Questions raised over €300k regeneration spend on Limerick Opera Site

The landmark commercial development is not in or near the four areas which were the focus of the regeneration plan

The site of the proposed Opera Centre, a €200m programme which is part of the Limerick 2030 Plan.

Questions have been raised as to why over €300,000 earmarked for Limerick's regeneration programme has been spent on works on the city's Opera Site, a landmark commercial development.

The Limerick Regeneration Framework Implementation Plan (LRFIP), launched in 2008 and revised in 2013, had promised annual spending of €28m to transform a number of areas of Limerick which were impoverished and socially disadvantaged.

The regeneration plans were partly in response to gangland feuding that resulted in 20 deaths and mainly affected the communities living in Moyross, Southill, St Mary’s Park, and Ballinacurra Weston. 

At a special meeting of the Metropolitan District of Limerick to discuss the regeneration programme, Fine Gael councillor Sarah Kiely raised the fact that €346,166 had been spent on stabilisation of the Opera Site, as part of that development's phase one works.

€200m programme

Located in the city centre, the Opera Centre Site is a €200m programme, which will include a 450,000sq ft campus when completed, and is part of the Limerick 2030 Plan.

However, it is not located in or near any of the four areas which were the focus of the Limerick regeneration plan.

Ms Kiely questioned why the money was spent on the Opera Site programme and what "the purpose, or value, was to the regeneration communities.” 

In response, the director of regeneration, Joe Delaney, referred back to the plan from 2013, which he says was “intrinsically linked” with the 2030 plans.

“It was anticipated that those stabilisation works would be done as part of the plan,” said Mr Delaney, confirming that the Opera Site did receive funding from the regeneration project.

Sinn Féin councillor John Costelloe said that “over €300,000 had been spent on the Opera Site, but we have people unable to heat their houses” in regeneration areas, where he said the work on thermal upgrades had been “slow”. 

Fianna Fáil councillor Jerry O'Dea asked for a greater breakdown on the Opera Site expenditure and was told by Mr Delaney that he would get the information required.