My Department continues to provide significant support for the regeneration project across Limerick City, through ongoing liaison with the Limerick Northside and Southside Regeneration Agencies and with the local authorities in the area. Up to the end of 2009, some €51 million was provided to support the development of the city's integrated regeneration programme, to fund an ambitious schedule of demolition and enabling works, as well as to implement the associated regeneration relocation strategy. In addition, funding was provided for a broad range of much needed social inclusion, community development, and enterprise development initiatives.
On 4 December 2009, my colleague, Minister Gormley, announced that the Government had reaffirmed its commitment to the regeneration programme for Limerick and endorsed the programme's overall vision for a ten-year transformation of the Limerick Regeneration areas. The Government has requested that detailed plans for phase one be completed by the end of the first quarter of this year, setting out the key elements of the programme to be delivered over the course of the first 3 to 5 year period involved, including the investment envisaged by Government Departments and State agencies, as well as the private investment required to underpin the sustainability of the regeneration process.
Within the overall funding available to my own Department for the provision and improvement of social housing for 2010, continued priority will be accorded to Limerick Regeneration. The level of funding to be provided in 2010 will be finalised as soon as possible, taking account of the Regeneration Programme's key deliverables for this year and the overall funding available for regeneration programmes nationally.