A FORMER Limerick City pub, legendary in its day for its hospitality, will soon offer a new kind of welcome.
The site of Eric’s Pub on St Joseph’s Street, formerly owned and operated by Eric and Florence Lynch before it closed in 1997, is to be repurposed for housing by the Peter McVerry Trust.
The development will provide three new much-needed residential units.
In an interview with Live 95 radio, Peter McVerry Trust chief executive Pat Doyle said the pub is one of four that the Trust has taken ownership of.
“We want to be good neighbours and we want to be welcomed in, because if we’re not welcomed in here then we won’t be anywhere else,” he said.
Speaking on his aspirations for the development, Doyle said: “The aim for the Trust is for people not to say ‘oh, that’s the homeless house’, we want to be like any other housing development in Limerick.”
Last week, the Peter McVerry Trust started work on the redevelopment of the former Office of Public Works property at 2-3 Lower Mallow Street into 12 single-bed apartments for people on the local social housing waiting list.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien was in attendance to launch the project, which is a partnership endeavour with Limerick City and County Council.
In 2022, Peter McVerry Trust supported over 12,000 people nationally, including over 400 people in Limerick who availed of housing and resettlement services.
The charity currently manages over 113 homes in Limerick City and County and will shortly launch the first 14 homes in its modular home project in Delmege Park, Moyross.
