Derelict Limerick Walking Tour this Saturday
A free walking tour of different vacant and derelict properties in Limerick is being organised for this Saturday to highlight what the organisers say is a “serious blight on the Limerick landscape” and to push for more to be done to bring the properties back into use as public housing and community facilities.
The walking tour is being organised as part of a National Day of Action on Dereliction organised by the National Homeless & Housing Coalition. The event is supported by a broad array of local housing charities, campaigners, community groups, trade unions and left-wing political parties.
Speaking about the protest Ruairi Fahy of the Community Action Tenants Union said:
"For-profit delivery of housing is suffocating people in private rental accommodation and on housing waiting lists. Government grants and tax breaks, created to encourage renovation of derelict properties, rely on handing money to people sitting on empty properties without any guarantee that they will deliver affordable homes.
"If we want to see more vibrant and active communities we need to stop relying on private investment decisions for the delivery of housing. Instead, the building of new homes and the renovation of vacant and derelict properties should be led by public funding with a democratic mandate to ensure that the primary goal is meeting people's housing needs, not the generation of profit for a small few."
The walking tour will gather at 1pm in Arthurs Quay Park on Saturday, February 26th and will include stops at key vacant and derelict sites around the city. At each stop, a different speaker will give a short talk dealing with topics such as the history of the different sites, their possible uses, and policy solutions to tackle the problem of vacancy.
Anna Blair who has been running a social media campaign highlighting vacant properties in Limerick added:
"Vacancy/Dereliction is a product of systems that prioritise capital gain over spatial agency. The right to private property is asserted over the right to a home, community, and culture. The extreme scale of dereliction in Ireland shows that buildings are esteemed for their capital value over their use-value.
"In the midst of a housing crisis, vast amounts of people need homes. A significant amount of the buildings we need already exist but immaterial boundaries are keeping us locked out. To dismantle those boundaries, we need amendments to the constitution, the implementation of vacancy taxes, and new legislation to control the costs of securing stable housing (including caps on how much buildings can sell for). Radical change is needed to subvert the state we are now in, which among the issues outlined, causes environmental, social, and economic concern."
The list of those supporting the event includes: Novas, SIPTU Limerick, Doras Luimni, Feile na Greine, Derelict Limerick, Community Action Tenants Union as well as a broad list of local politicians including Maurice Quinlivan TD, Cllr. Elisa O’Donovan, Cian Prendiville and Anne Cronin.
