Some Limerick communities may see 'no benefit' from €337m regeneration plan

Councillors have warned that if promises are not kept, parts of Limerick could find themselves worse off

The demolition of Pineview Gardens in Moyross under the regeneration programme in Limerick. 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. File photo: Sean Curtin Press 22

Some Limerick communities will have seen “no benefit” from the €337m regeneration plans if promised developments are not delivered, the director of the programme has been told.

Labour Party councillor Conor Sheehan told the director of regeneration, Joe Delaney, at a special meeting of the Metropolitan District of Limerick, that if a planned community centre in St Mary’s Park is not delivered, the “community will not have benefited from regeneration at all”.

“In fact, the community, in my view and in the view of a lot of people living down there, has gotten worse,” he said, referring to the area, also known as 'the Island'.

The area was one of a number of communities in Limerick which were set to be transformed by the Limerick Regeneration Framework Implementation Plan (LRFIP). 

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The plan was launched in 2008 and revised in 2013, and 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. Despite the fact the feuds and gang-related violence have reduced since then, St Mary’s has remained a hotspot for drug dealing and anti-social behaviour.

The area has been targeted by a number of Garda operations in the past year. 

A Garda operation targeting drugs gangs was involved in 191 searches between March and June of this year. Gardaí also set up checkpoints to monitor people who are visiting the estate to buy drugs, as part of operation Copóg, which has seen a large quantity of drugs seized in the area.

Despite this, Mr Sheehan, who has relatives in the community, says the problem of open drug use remains rampant.

“You can't even walk down the Island bank without sidestepping people [who are] taking drugs, or, people who are are very unwell, having taken drugs themselves,” said Mr Sheehan.

“Fourteen years on, it’s absolutely horrifying, and if it were to happen in another, more affluent area, I doubt it would be tolerated,” he added.

Mr Delaney said they are engaging with the community to resolve their concerns.

The meeting was also told that some of the physical projects promised in the Limerick Regeneration Plans will not be delivered by 2023, which was the scheduled deadline for the project.

“Some [projects] on the physical side, we won't have delivered by 2023, because they may not have got the funding yet, they may not have completed the feasibility study, councillors may no longer want them to go ahead for whatever reason, so we have to work through that,” said Mr Delaney. 

“But certainly we need to know if we're not able to get them physically built, we certainly need to have them, you know, approved by the department and funding put against them.” 

He went on to say that if there are projects, on the physical side, that are approved, that they will be continued past 2023. According to a report provided to councillors at the meeting, 271 houses have been constructed under the regeneration programme, while a further 186 are currently in different stages of progress. 

Questions were also raised as to why over €300,000 earmarked for the regeneration programme has been spent on works on the city's Opera Site, a landmark commercial development. However, Mr Delaney referred back to the regeneration plan from 2013, which he says was “intrinsically linked” with the 2030 plans.