Docks plan due this month

AN IMPORTANT report pointing the way forward for Limerick docks will be published later this month.

The former director of the Mid-Western Regional Authority Tom Kirby was asked by the Shannon Foynes Port Company, which run the docks, to draw up the report.

It is expected the report will form the basis for a blueprint for the use and development of Limerick docks.

A major plan drawn up by the former chief executive of the port company, Brian Byrne, met with fierce resistance from port users and local politicians.

That plan envisaged huge developments of the docks as a commercial, financial, retail, residential and recreational centre.

Port users voiced their opposition to that plan as they would have to transfer their import and export operations to Foynes, 40km down the Shannon Estuary, and to other ports.

Members of the board of the SFPC are anxious to see better use of Limerick’s most strategic asset and not leave it to limited port use.

The Kirby report is due to be given to Transport Minister Noel Dempsey and members of the SFPC board within three weeks.