Two special purpose Government agencies were set up on 15 June 2007, for the northside and southside of Limerick City, following recommendations from the Fitzgerald report into serious social problems in these areas.
The Limerick Regeneration agencies were created in an attempt to provide improved community facilities and modern housing in the Moyross, Southill, Ballinacurra-Weston and St. Mary's Park housing estates.
In all, the project involves 3,000 houses. The agencies are associated with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.
They are charged with overseeing the planning and implementation of a regeneration programme for both the northside and southside of Limerick City. Each agency has a management board which meets every two months and is established to run until 2012.
A report on the Limerick Regeneration website states that to date, 250 houses have been demolished by Limerick County Council and that security in the Southill and St. Mary's Park estates has been improved by the installation of CCTV systems, as well as the provision of 100 extra garda for the Limerick City region.
As well as public funding and development, the agencies hope to include private developers in the housing regeneration areas.
Since 2007, over 50 million euro has been allocated to the Limerick Regeneration project. Originally it was envisaged that the regeneration projects would be completed over a ten year period from 2008 to 2018. Because of recent funding cutbacks, it will now take longer.
