The Chief Executive of the Limerick Southside Regeneration Agency has said the scale of the social deprivation in Southill and Moyross is appalling and quite frightening.
Mr Brendan Kenny has said the scale of the problem is the worst he had encountered in his 27 years working in the public service.
Prior to his appointment to Limerick Mr Kenny had worked with Dublin City Council and had presided over regeneration projects in Ballymun, Ballyfermot, and inner city Dublin.
He said the staff of the Regeneration Agency had visited every household in these estates.
He said many people believe the high crime level is the main issue in the estates.
Mr Kenny said that in his view a lot of the social service agencies simply cannot cope with the high concentration of social housing and deprivation, and unless there is huge intervention by these agencies there will be another crisis in ten years time.
He went on to say that the agency had encountered at least 100 children between the ages of 12 and 16 who had not been to school for more than a year.
Responding to these comments, the National Education Welfare Board said it was not aware of 100 children in Limerick City who are staying out of school.
In a statement this afternoon, the Board said it was working to resolve school attendance problems with a 'small number' of families in the area, and that it will be seeking a meeting with Mr Kenny.
Mr Kenny also said that it is likely that more than 1,000 houses in the estates will need to be demolished and rebuilt.
The plan is to use the green space in the areas to build new housing clusters and move families into these before demolishing others.
