Calls to “use it or lose it” for derelict and vacant properties
Calls to “use it or lose it” for derelict and vacant properties
On Saturday the streets of Limerick saw over a hundred people gather for the Derelict Limerick Walking Tour. The slogan of this demonstration was “use it of lose it” describing the need for radical action to address the housing crisis. This walking tour stopped at several key properties within the city centre and highlighted the numerous facets of Limerick’s worsening vacancy and dereliction problem. This tour featured speakers from housing charities Doras, and Novas, union organisations SIPTU and CATU and political parties People Before Profit, Social Democrats, Sinn Féin and Labour.
Despite the unfavourable weather, this tour was very well attended by the people of Limerick indicating a strong public interest in this pressing issue and possible solutions to it.
Anne Cronin of Novas spoke about the development of Arthur’s Quay park and the currently vacant Tourist Information Centre. She described how wonderful an addition this park was to city life in Limerick. She denounced current plans to effectively eliminate this park with the construction of a road which will cut through it to facilitate an extension of the Tourist Information Centre for use as a grocery shop.
Anna Blair, a fifth year Architecture student in University of Limerick spoke about the derelict Georgian buildings throughout the city centre and the shame of these buildings being left to rot in the heart of our city and of the lost opportunity of these buildings not being put into public use, she said “It can feel like we have no say over how we live, where we live, or how our city develops. But people do have agency. It’s up to us to use our people power to demand change and to reclaim our city’s empty buildings.“
Former councillor, Cian Prendiville of People Before Profit denounced the wasted opportunity that the current Opera Site development plan represents. He said “there are a number of issues with the plan including the lack of a residential component. We need to push for this development to have at least a 50% residential aspect to avoid this site becoming a dead-zone in the evening. Making the Opera Site 50% residential would inject about 350 apartments into the housing supply of Limerick which could be transformative.”
Councillor Elisa Donovan of Social Democrats gave an informative and detailed run-down of the many mechanisms that the council have at their disposal to bring derelict and vacant properties within Limerick city and county back into use. She encouraged the council to be more proactive with their use of these mechanisms.
John Lannon, CEO of Doras spoke for the most marginalised in Irish society and the particular problems they face within Ireland’s housing crisis. He deplored the squalid, unacceptable living conditions that immigrants are being asked to accept within Ireland’s direct provision system.
Ruairi Fahy, member of CATU, the Community Action and Tenants Union, said “The council has offered numerous grants to property owners to retrofit and renovate their properties. Despite these generous grants, property owners are still choosing to turn their properties into hotels and high-end offices for the higher profits these developments return. If we want to create vibrant communities within Limerick city it is essential that we move away from a private investment led model of housing to one based on local, democratically decided needs.”
Maurice Quinlivan TD for Sinn Féin spoke at Watergate Apartments of the rising rents experienced by the tenants there which is putting what once was affordable accommodation out of reach of lower income families. He spoke of the importance of affordable accommodation to the fabric of society.
Councillor John Costello of Sinn Fein and Councillor Conor Sheehan of Labour both agreed that the site of Mary Street Garda Station should be restored and renovated into residential accommodation or as community space and that the current plan to renovate this building into luxury offices would contribute to an oversupply of office space within Limerick City.
This tour was organised as part of a larger national movement for real change in Ireland’s housing system to address our worsening housing crisis by the National Homeless & Housing Coalition. Further actions are being planned locally and nationally to put pressure on the government to tackle the housing crisis in a way that benefits citizens more than it does international financial firms.
