Dr. Pat Daly:

I thank the Senator for his kind words. I will pass them on to my colleagues. The chamber of commerce report, which was prepared by Indecon Consultants, was very useful as an insight into how they see the world, as an analysis of how Limerick might emerge and develop and as an input into the draft development plan for Limerick. It identified that urban living, particularly in the city centre, needs to come up a level at pace. We would agree with that and we are working through it.

For the benefit of other members of the committee, the Opera Centre site is a large 4-hectare site in the middle of the city that we are bringing forward. We have a development company in Limerick called Limerick 2030 DAC. It is probably Ireland's only public interest development company. It is taking forward key sites that we felt would anchor the redevelopment and revitalisation of Limerick city centre. We are now looking at other locations around the county as well. The site will be mixed use. It will primarily have public spaces. In addition to a new building for Revenue, which is expanding in Limerick, there will be a new library centre, an innovation office block, an aparthotel, some retail, a neighbourhood centre and some limited residential development, involving the conversion of a Georgian area.

That is only one site and there are many others we are working through. A great deal of attention has been paid to the mixed-use aspect of the Opera Centre site. Much of it is under negotiation which I probably cannot get into. We have nearly all the blocks in dialogue with possible investors and owners. Work is continuing on other key sites around the city centre, some of which are in our ownership and some of which we are working on with the private sector, to bring forward apartment living and social, affordable and student schemes. I acknowledge that we have lacked such schemes in Limerick. Our planning has not been confined to the Indecon report, on which we worked very closely with the chamber of commerce, with which we have a strong relationship as a stakeholder. We have also worked with KPMG Future Analytics on our own reporting as part of the development plan process.

On an economic and spatial basis, we are asking what else is needed and how the mix works. We probably need seven or eight new sites that would have social and affordable aspects along with more commercial and residential aspects. That is where the next phase of the plan will be. We spoke earlier about animating the city centre, what the change in the mix of retail and living will be, and where the night economy meets that. I think that will be the next phase for Limerick. It is quite an exciting phase. I think there is a lot of interest in the public consultation around the draft development plan. That came through very clearly. It is very interesting that both reports we have been working with have come up with that as a finding. While I agree with what the Senator has said, it will be not be confined to the Opera Centre. We are a long way down the road in the Opera Centre - on-site works are taking place and development agreements have almost been finalised on several of the key buildings. There are plenty of opportunities to drive this agenda forward in and around the city centre.