€12m housing project set to get go-ahead
Limerick Regeneration chief executive Brendan Kenny confirmed that work on 70 new houses is expected to start in late 2012 and create up to 140 jobs in construction.
Mr Kenny said the houses will be offered to residents who give up their homes for demolition in a “house-for-house” swap scheme.
“I see no reason why we would not get approval by Christmas,” Mr Kenny said. The houses will be built in the area known locally as Cliona College and work is expected to be completed within 18 months.
The project is among three Moyross schemes that the Limerick Regeneration Agency has sent to the Department of the Environment for funding, according to Mr Kenny.
But the Cliona College project is their main priority because it is in the centre of Moyross, he said.
While Moyross residents welcomed the news, concern remains about the future of the Limerick Regeneration project because the agency’s contract will expire in June 2012.
The Government plans to incorporate the Limerick Regeneration Agency into the new joint local authority that will be created for Limerick by 2014.
Moyross Estate Management community worker, Tracey McElligott, said: “Everything is up in the air at the moment and the residents are very concerned — they think regeneration is gone.”
She said residents are concerned about the transitional process. “It is a huge concern for the community and if it is not handled properly, all the work that regeneration has done over the past few years will be wasted.”
But Mr Kenny said this housing project will go ahead — despite the uncertainty about the regeneration project after next June.
The reform of the local government structure and the integration of regeneration is a “tall order in a short period of time,” he added.
Asked if the Cliona College project was likely to get funding by Christmas, a Department of the Environment spokesman said: “A project of this size is subject to rigorous assessment. It is being looked at, but we have no idea how long it will take.”
