Limerick Regeneration: NO REAL CONSULTATION!

limerick | rights, freedoms and repression | press release Sunday November 02, 2008 19:01 by Cathal McCarthy - Independent Community Activist 087 29 29 676

At last our long wait is over and a new era for Limerick city has begun, at last the Master Plan.

Limerick Regeneration: Everything is "Excellent" - Mural at the gable end of Weston Gardens

The one thing that is evident in the so-called Master Plan is that there was no real community consultation. I don't know anyone in Weston that was looking for 5-storey apartment blocks or duplexes. One Agency-established committee member I spoke to wasn't even aware of that. The assertion that this document was the product of the communities is laughable. I think that many people will be overwhelmed and confused by it.

The Weston Gardens Residents Association presented the Southside Regeneration Agency with our own proposal for regeneration in November 2007. Entitled Renewal, Integration, Regeneration, it was based on everything we were told that was possible for our area by the Agency. It was ignored and we were strung along with pointless meetings and empty promises. There was even an attempt to cut us from the Agency's remit and pass us back to the Council.

Our Association have been campaigning for more than 8 years to have our estate regenerated. To make changes, we have to work with those who can decide that changes will happen. But working with such people is rarely a true partnership. The agendas are different. If their agendas for change coincided with the communities, the changes would have happened without us having to ask.

The Limerick Regeneration Agencies have once again subverted the concept of a real community agenda by producing another 'vision' document without any real consultation or debate. A 'top down' approach with a 'bottom up' veneer; a developers dream with jobs 'for the boys'.

Our small estate is mentioned in the Plans, but that does not mean that anything will be done for us, or anyone else for that matter. At the end of the day, action speaks louder than words and to date all we have gotten are words. There may well be 30 pages dedicated to social regeneration in this new vision document, but they are just words.

In the Fitzgerald Report we were promised a dedicated Garda service for our troubled estates. Involving a minimum of 100 Gardaí "whose sole function will be the policing of these areas" and headed by their own superintendent. This never happened. Of course if the state had restored confidence and stability in the communities then it wouldn't be able to depopulate so readily, clearing the land for developers.

Limerick City Council is facilitating the Regeneration Agencies by overseeing the depopulation of areas targeted for regeneration. While these areas are officially under the remit of the Regeneration Agencies, refusing to involve themselves in the process. Indeed, the Agencies expect another 500 homes will be vacated before building commences.

People have being looking to get out of our troubled estates for years. Since the publication of the Fitzgerald Report, Limerick City Council has been acquiring peoples homes for as little as €20,000 - €40,000 in exchange for rented accommodation elsewhere.

The Council claim that they are paying 'the market rate'. In truth, there is no market. Any self-respecting auctioneer will tell you that houses in such areas are unsellable! Furthermore, the 'market rate' does not give financial security. Acceptance of the councils offer is conveniently interpreted as 'wanting to leave' and as a result people forfeit their right to a new house in the newly regenerated area.

This policy can only be viewed as exploiting the criminal and anti-social behaviour that exists to pave the way for developers by clearing the land of as many people as possible. Most of these people are law-abiding and elderly, and had finished paying their mortgages.

Troubled families that don't have criminal records are also being displaced, which makes a mockery of any stated intentions for social regeneration.

People who have taken the council offer should be contacted by the Regeneration Agencies and offered a house in the newly regenerated area. If they used to be homeowners then they should return as homeowners. If they do not wish to return, then a house in the regenerated area should be sold on their behalf so that they can purchase the house they now have to rent. In the interim, they shouldn't have to pay rent and Communities that are waiting for regeneration shouldn't have to stew in it; the degeneration must stop now.

- Cathal McCarthy
Independent Community Activist