Ballinacurra Weston residents up-in-arms
DERELICT, burned out houses in the Balinacurra Weston area will claim the life of a child unless they are demolished soon, it has been warned.The Ballinacurra Weston Residents Alliance (BWRA) held a street protest last week to highlight their fears and to demand that the people now responsible for delivering regeneration give them a bigger say.
Carrying placards which read “Demolish before a Child Dies” and “Work With Us”, the residents made their protest .
“We want these burned out, derelict houses demolished. They’re a serious danger,” said BWRA chairperson, Matt Collins.
“No one should have to live like this – we’ve been coping with this for five years. Now that the Regeneration function has been taken over by City Council, we are hoping they will work with us. We’re here and we’re ready to talk.
“The forums which were set up at the start have not worked, They are not representative of 95 per cent of the population living here. We are,” he said. Cllr Maurice Quinliven (SF) attended the protest and Cllr Cormac Hurley (FG) sent apologies.
“You only have to look around the area. There has been no improvement in five years. It’s like something out of a war zone,” commented Mr Collins.
In a statement issued to the Limerick Post, the Office of Regeneration at Limerick City Council, said it is “committed to engaging with residents in St Mary’s Park, Moyross, Ballinacurra Weston and Southill to deliver the planned programme.
To this end, channels of communication have been set up at a community level to facilitate engagement from local representatives and members of the public with the Office of Regeneration.
These channels consist of three tiers: individual meetings with residents through weekly clinics and ongoing engagement with the community workers; the monthly regeneration committees and a city wide consultation forum in the designated areas.
Director of Limerick Regeneration, Oliver O’Loughlin, said he met community representatives. He stressed that all are urged to become actively involved in the regeneration process through the structures that have now been put in place.
“Consultation with the communities is crucial as over the next five years, the delivery of the physical regeneration process will be well underway. We need the communities to be part of this process and we are facilitating consultation with them in an open and transparent manner through these channels”.
