Moyross Voice December 09 Regeneration Story Centre Pages

By Kelly Moran and Leo Stiles
THE FIRST houses for the regeneration project will begin construction in late 2010.
The agency is working on plans for the 30 unit sheltered housing in Cliona Park, Moyross, which will start in the autumn of next year.
 CEO of Limerick Regeneration Brendan Kenny says this will be the first significant step in the revitalisation of the area.
“It’s the first development and a major step to show people here that we are serious and this is going to happen,” said Mr Kenny.
Mr Kenny said they don’t want to raise people’s expectations, but things are going well.
Speaking in an interview with the Moyross Voice, Mr Kenny said: “That’s why we have gone for this idea of sheltered accommodation for older people, because they have been affected badly, probably worse that any others in these areas.”
The planning will commence in February.
For 2009, the budget for Limerick regeneration was €25 million.
 €16.75 million of this was given to Limerick City and County Councils, and Clare County Council to buy the houses of the people who wanted to leave the regeneration areas.
Some residents have been offered €28,000 for their homes which has caused outrage.
“I think it is very unfair, but the reality is that there are an awful lot of unfair things out in the regeneration areas, people have suffered hugely over the last 20-25 years from all kinds of difficulties and yes its very unfair that now if people want to sell their house that’s the most they are going to get,” Mr Kenny said.
Mr Kenny added that he would prefer that no-one would leave but that he couldn’t stand in the way of a family who is looking to improve the situation. Mr Kenny also stressed that the process of relocation was in the hands of the local authorities and not the regeneration agencies and that much of the bad publicity was out of their control.
Mr Kenny points out that the flood of people leaving is now down to a trickle and that he hopes most of the funding in the future will be channelled directly in to the areas.
Mr Kenny said: “The money, it buys a house but it doesn’t create any jobs. We would like to see that money in time changing over to being used for building houses.
“Say if you build five houses, you get five new houses, but you also get jobs. If you buy a house you get onto an estate agent and buy a house, so we would like to see the money being diverted over,” he added.
While Mr Kenny acknowledged the difficulties the country is facing in the recession, he said that regeneration will continue because it has to and that it needs the support of the government.
With all eyes on the government next week and the 2010 budget, Mr Kenny remained confident that the regeneration agencies will be allocated the funds they need to remain effective and while 2009 had been a difficult year, he was optimistic that the agencies would continue to receive support.
“I believe that the focus all the time is about the budget, but we never did any major shouting about budgets and we were happy with the budget we got in 2009”, he said.
Mr Kenny said: “People don’t realise the budget for 2008 was €15 million, so there was a significant increase there.
“In 2010 we would certainly need a similar amount to the one that we had in 2009,” he added.
Limerick has seen a major reduction of crime with the instances of gun related crime down 66 per cent. While praising the work of the Gardai, Mr Kenny highlighted the role of regeneration and its positive effect on the wider communities of limerick
“Through regeneration there is now 100 more gardai in Limerick and there has been a significant improvement particularly in Moyross, some people say that these areas are quieter than they have been for 10 years,” he said.
But Mr Kenny said some people are living in the same they were for the last several years.
“For a number of people their situation hasn’t changed, they are still beside the same people that have been causing problems and they are afraid.
“People come and tell us that there are all kinds of things going on, but they won’t tell the Gardai, its near anarchy in some ways and you can understand why they won’t come forward, “he said.
Southside Director Brendan Hayden has been overseeing both agencies while they have been looking for a new Northside Director. Mr Kenny agreed that this was not ideal but that it was just as important to get the right person for the role as it was to fill it quickly.