RESIDENTS in the city’s regeneration areas are in limbo as they await updates on the project, having become sole inhabitants in rows of houses once occupied, and with long standing neighbours having disappeared from the landscape.
And Brendan Kenny, head of regen’, accepts their concerns:
He told the Limerick Post: “There are certainly situations where people are waking up in the morning and finding that the neighbours they have lived beside for 30 years are suddenly gone”.
Deputy Willie O’Dea told the Limerick Post that many people in regeneration areas had contacted him “feeling as though they are in no man’s land”.
He said he has broached the matter with the Department of the Environment but is not getting any answers.
“A lot of people have been coming to me who are the sole residents of blocks of houses where everyone else has been moved out and they are feeling left behind and isolated.
“There are quite a number of them in these extremely unsatisfactory living conditions.
“The plans went back to the department for review and they won’t tell me when we’ll get more information on this.
“I put in a question to the Minister for the Environment but the reply I continue to get is that it is under consideration.
“I’m looking for a decision; people are entitled to know where they stand”.
While head of regeneration, Brendan Kenny, acknowledged that there are people who continue to live in unacceptable conditions, he said that much progress had been made and that they were not waiting on department decisions to make moves.
“We have seen a lot of progress in the last few months such as turning the sod on the first housing scheme in August and receiving planning permission from Limerick City Council in October for housing for older people in Southill,” Mr. Kenny told the Limerick Post.
“There are also social projects working away nicely in the last few months, like the new pitch in Ballinacurra Weston, and another in St. Mary’s Park that will start in two weeks.
“It has been slow but steady”.
However, Mr. Kenny understands why some residents believe nothing has changed for them.
“I’m very conscious that there are people living in conditions that are not acceptable.
“This is a cause of negativity, and I can understand why people in these cases believe things are still as bad as nothing has changed”.
He said that regeneration is working with city council are working with residents to keep them in the loop as to when they will be moving out.
