The Limerick Regeneration Programme

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.

The original public funding commitment outlined in 2007 was 1.7 billion euro, with private concerns investing a further 1.3 billion. The original plan involved the demolition of up to 3,000 houses and the rebuilding of 2,500 of them, along with the creation of two new town centre areas.

Recent comments by the Government have indicated that the amount of funding for the project will be a maximum of 25 million euro a year. This means the project will need to focus on refurbishing, rather than rebuilding, the existing houses and will significantly extend the timescale to complete the regeneration project.

This article is only intended as a basic general summary and you should always seek professional advice where necessary.

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