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The Limerick regeneration programme - to transform
blackspot estates such as Moyross, Southill, St Mary’s Park
and Ballinacurra Weston - remains in confusion due to inadequate
government funding, it has been claimed.
The head of the regeneration agency,
Brendan Kenny, conceded that €25 million, allocated last week,
will not enable the provision of any new projects in designated
areas.
"We have to welcome the €25m in light of the
economic climate - but, if we want to move to the next level,
we need more than that. It will not allow us do anything new
- we will remain demolishing houses and purchasing houses
through the local authority. But it will not allow us move
on to the next phase of building houses and we feel the time
is right to do this. The communities are putting on pressure
to have this done."
However, Defence Minister Willie O’Dea and Minister
of State Peter Power insisted the allocation - €1m more than
last year - was a sign of Government commitment to the regeneration
scheme.
The 10-year project announced in October 2008
has a price tag of €3 billion involving the building of 7,200
new houses - of which 2,400 are to be provided by the public
sector and the remainder by the private sector.
Up to 350 houses have already been bulldozed
in the regeneration areas to-date, but no new houses have
been built there.
Residents already rehoused have moved into suburban
areas of the city, with money provided to Limerick County
Council by the regeneration agency, to buy properties on the
private market.
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