Following the publication of the Fitzgerald Report on addressing issues of social exclusion in Moyross and other disadvantaged areas of Limerick City the Government agreed to support a regeneration programme for key areas of Limerick City, including Moyross, Southill, Ballinacurra Weston and Kings Island/St. Mary’s Park. The Limerick Regeneration Agencies (Northside and Southside) were established in June 2007 for a five-year term to 14 June 2012 for the purposes of building confidence and trust within the communities in Limerick and to facilitate a coordinated public sector response to the regeneration process. On the completion of their five-year term, the functions, assets, undertakings and liabilities of the Agencies were formally transferred to Limerick City Council, pending the establishment of the new Limerick Unitary Authority, with a new dedicated Office of Regeneration taking responsibility for managing and implementing the regeneration programme.
The Office of Regeneration, with a dedicated staff of 23 administrative, technical and professional personnel, is headed by a Director of Regeneration, reporting directly to the Unitary Authority Manager. The Office currently has four staff at Senior Executive Officer/Project Manager level to administer the social and economic regeneration programmes and the delivery of the physical implementation plans for the relevant areas. Two senior staff members are located at Moyross and Southill respectively. A complement of staff, including technical and professional staff with appropriate skills in the areas of planning, design and engineering services, are deployed at the Office of Regeneration to support the delivery of regeneration in the city.
The Director is charged with overseeing the transfer of functions from the Agencies to Limerick City Council and progressing the compilation and implementation of strategies and programmes for the physical, social and economic regeneration of the four areas concerned. This new Office, with key decision makers working in a single, unified team, will accelerate the delivery of projects as the regeneration process transitions from the planning to the implementation phase. Regeneration is retained as a separate entity with its own dedicated staff and annual capital budgets which gives a new impetus to regeneration and builds on the foundations laid so far by the Agencies.
Over the past five years, a robust framework has been put in place to facilitate consultation with stakeholder groups on wide-ranging issues relating to the development and implementation of social and physical regeneration strategies. The Office of Regeneration is engaging with this framework to deliver, as a priority, robust Implementation Plans which will act as a roadmap for regeneration in the coming years. An Implementation Plan for the physical, social and economic regeneration of the four areas will be published shortly by the Office of Regeneration .
My Department retains overall responsibility for the policy and funding of the National Regeneration Programme. The programme is managed by an experienced team of administrative and technical personnel with a range of financial management, project management, planning, design, engineering and quantity surveying skills.
