5 years, €116m and not a house built

AFTER five years and a spend of €116 million, not a single house has been built under Limerick’s regeneration plan, and some families are now worse off than before.

The head of the Limerick Regeneration Agency, Brendan Kenny, said the plan to transform Moyross, Southill, Ballinacurra Weston and St Mary’s Park had left some families worse off — with 1,000 residents moving out because of the lack of progress. However, he said the plan must go ahead, if the areas were not to deteriorate further.

The plan to build and replace 7,240 homes, a mix of 2,450 local authority houses and 4,790 private dwellings, was unveiled in 2007 with a June 2012 deadline. Work on the first houses, a 33-unit project in Moyross, only got under way last August and will not be ready until October.