LIMERICK is loosing out to Galway and Ennis, which both have the services and expertise of a conservation officer to safeguard the historical ambience of each city’s history.
Responding to a recent RTE news report that gave Limerick city’s footfall as 900 per day, compared to Galway’s 5,000, Limerick architectural heritage specialist, Tom Quinlan, told the Limerick Post: “There’s still hope for Limerick as the Opera Centre site, as well as other city centre streets and locations, can offer the Georgian ambience of our past, which is an affordable solution to downtown shopping.”
Mr Quinlan who has worked on high profile heritage developments and restoration projects throughout the world said it’s conceivable to foresee Limerick’s variation of Dublin’s Powerscourt and Grafton Street.
“It would be easy to visualise where one could meander through courtyards and floors with the authentic character that our parameter shopping centres cannot provide. The existing downtown rates could then be shared over a larger area and further link the retail zone.”
Mr Quinlan, who has called on the City Council to restore the former home of the Limerick author, Kate O’Brien, told the Post this week that damage has been caused to the skylights and gates of the large protected structure on Mulgrave Street.
Confirming that the council had been in recent talks with the owners of the property, who live outside of Ireland, Mr Quinlan remarked: “Holes have been punctured into the skylights and parts of the gates have been cut out. I was told recently by a neighbour that people were seen in the yard at the rear of the house.”
Mayor Jim Long, who has frequently raised the issue of a conservation officer for the city at meetings of the council, said there are no immediate plans by Limerick City Council to appoint a conservation officer.
“Unfortunately, with the current embargo on recruitment in the local authority, this is not viable in the immediate future,” he said.
