The Mayor of Limerick John Moran has defined todays inaugural meeting of the Mayoral and Government Consultative Forum as an historic departure in local government, in which big ticket items for the development of Limerick city and county were discussed and a progress plan put in place.
The meetings will occur twice a year and give the Mayor of Limerick and his team direct access to the Taoiseach and Government about the ambitious mayoral programme and its progress.
Housing as well as a number of other big project items such as the development of the railway to both Foynes and to Shannon Airport, the completion of the €290 million Opera centre in the city, and the development of the Colbert Quarter near the railway station which also has the potential to deliver mixed housing and commercial development, were also all on the agenda.
€6.5 million was secured to complete a mixed housing development at Knockhill on the Ennis Road on the north side of Limerick, where construction is underway on 50 homes - 32 social homes, 12 cost rental and six affordable purchase homes. There will also be a further 42 private homes secured on the site.
However while this is just one site, Mayor Moran estimates that up to €16 billion will be needed over the next 15 years to house up to 40,000 people in the city and county as the region grows.
"This is the scale of funding that will be required to match the ambition we have set out about developing Limerick and we had a very honest conversation about the level of funding that cities like Limerick needs and the Taoiseach was fully engaged with us on meeting that," he said.
"The Ryder cup is coming to Limerick in 2027 and we are now using that as a deadline to achieve some of the bigger item projects we have set ourselves."
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that given this was the first meeting of the Limerick Mayoral Consultative Group and that it was a major innovation in local government in the election of the directly elected mayor, he wanted to signal the Government's commitment to this process.
He said he was very anxious to meet directly with the Mayor and work through the ambitious agenda he has set out.
"I want to develop a process that enables the Government and Limerick to work together to advance that agenda, but also to underpin the Government’s commitment to regional development.
"We want to grow regional cities at scale and critical mass which opens up possibilities in terms of housing and energy infrastructure and off shore wind energy development," he said.
