THE COUNCIL is joining forces with local traders to set up a new task force to breathe new life into the city centre and save businesses struggling to stay afloat.
At this Monday’s Metropolitan District meeting in City Hall, members of Limerick City Centre Traders’ Association called for assistance from the local authority in invigorating the city to its former glory.
Stevie Gleeson, of Gleeson Sport Scene on Upper William Street, told councillors that Limerick has the highest city centre vacancy rate in the country. He also highlighted the massive decline in footfall in the last 10 years due to an exodus of household retail names to shopping centres and retail parks in the suburbs.
“Cruises Street is full of vacant units. We have Debenhams closed since 2020, and our big fear is that, the way things are going, there will be further closures in the new year,” Mr Gleeson warned.
“This will make a situation that’s already bad, completely worse.”
The biggest issues facing city traders, Council members were informed, included decline in footfall, access to the city centre, poor public transport, traffic congestion, and anti-social behaviour.
“There’s active drug use in the lanes around the city centre. There’s people injecting up in broad daylight,” Mr Gleeson spoke out.
“There’s a huge problem with shoplifting. On Friday, five or six 10-year-olds came into my own shop and started filling up bags. When I confronted them, they just started throwing things on the ground.”
Owen Silke, of Silkes Arts and Crafts on Catherine Street, explained that Limerick City Centre Traders’ Association has solutions to some of the issues its 150 members face.
“One of the quick fixes that can be done before Christmas is activating the car parking signs,” he said. “These signs show the amount of car spaces available in each car park, but they were switched off a few years ago. If these were turned on, it would be a massive help”
Access, convenience, and parking, Mr Silke said, are key when it comes to attracting retailers and shoppers into the city.
He also pleaded with the Council not to put any further pressure on traders by ensuring there is no rates increase in the future.
The city retailer also called for increased Garda presence in the city, along with a pop-up Garda booth on William Street or O’Connell Street.
“We need to make the public feel safe and Garda visibility is required for this,” he said.
Cathaoirleach of the Metropolitan District, Cllr Kieran O’Hanlon (FF), took the view that a task force was needed urgently to tackle the issues at hand.
“It is totally unacceptable to see people shooting up and taking drugs and dealing right in the city centre,” Cllr O’Hanlon declared.
“Let’s see how we can improve the footfall and in turn improve businesses and protect the jobs that are in the city.”
Fine Gael councillor Peter Doyle deemed some of the traders’ ideas as no-brainers that wouldn’t cost a lot to put into action. He called on the Council to do more to make city centre shopping more appealing and encouraged them to do simple things before the Christmas shopping begins.
Labour Party councillor Joe Leddin was of the opinion that you need to have people living in the city to create a vibrant city centre.
“The reality is, we need to see thousands of people living in the city and it was one of the issues that really frustrated me with the Arthur’s Quay Framework,” he said.
“While it might have been slightly outside of their remit, there’s a totally undeveloped site there that could accommodate a four, five, or six floor apartment building at the back of Debenhams and accommodate hundreds of people living in the city.
“These are the strategic sites that we need to be focusing on collectively as a Council with private enterprise to try and get them to develop.”
Cllr Leddin also called for park and rides to be installed as a priority across the city to help get people into the centre quickly and efficiently.
