Ireland's first directly elected mayor - Limerick's John Moran - has set out a number of priority projects to be supported under his first mayoral fund, in which he has over €10m to spend up to the end of this year.
The fund is a new initiative under the major change in local government brought in with his election last June.
Mr Moran has an annual mayoral fund of €7m to spend over the five-year term on a number of priority projects which he identified as part of his campaign to earn the elected office and implement his ambitious mayoral programme to do what he described as "more for Limerick".
In fact, the Mayor has €10.5m to spend covering this year and a carry-over from the first six months of his term last year.
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This mayoral fund is separate from the €750m capital spending budget hammered out and finally agreed by Limerick council last November.
In the mayoral fund there is a focus on housing - €1.3m will fund rapid-build smart homes on public land to reflect the slowness in which long-term housing is coming on stream in Limerick.
€2.4m is being allocated to road-test new housing initiatives including repurposing derelict houses in key towns like Abbeyfeale along the Vienna house principles, which aims to build climate-friendly, affordable, energy-efficient homes.
Initiatives to deliver better quality city and town urban spaces to encourage greater numbers to live there is being allocated €1.7m, along with a further €1.2m to fight dereliction as well as sorting long overdue repairs on heritage assets.
Finding new uses for the old Royal cinema on Cecil Street in the city centre is also specifically mentioned.
The mayor said he needed to be faithful to the priorities which underpinned his strong mandate to achieve a more liveable Limerick with better quality housing, the ending of health disadvantage, and equality and prosperity for all its citizens.
"I have tried to allocate funding to ideas which I consider to be transformative pilots. These are designed to help show why the solution Limerick needs may have to be a new innovative approach, and may not be suited to a one-size-fits-all nationally applicable policy.
"By showing value for money or proof of concept for our own ideas in 2025, I hope these pilot projects will help us unlock many more millions of funding in the remaining years of my mayoral term," he said.
