Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

I thank the Deputy for once again bringing the matter of the regeneration of Limerick city to the attention of the House. It continues to be an issue that the Government and, in particular, my ministerial colleagues at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government have been driving forward across all relevant Departments, State agencies and local authorities.

The Government endorsed the vision for the overall programme prepared by the regeneration agencies and requested that they prepare a detailed, fully costed plan for the first phase by the end of the first quarter of this year. The process was led by the agencies board and its staff, which engaged the professional services of the National Building Agency's specialist regeneration team. A number of steering groups were established, with expert input from managers, planners, architects and engineers from across the local authorities and the relevant Departments, to develop the phase 1 plan. Last February, to ensure that the momentum for completion of the plans was maintained, the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Finneran, made a further trip to Limerick to visit the regeneration areas of Moyross, Southill, Ballinacurra Weston and St. Mary's Park and to support the co-operative efforts of all involved in developing the phase 1 plan.

I am pleased to say that the Limerick Regeneration Agencies board adopted a proposed phase 1 implementation plan on 7 April and, last week, the agencies formally presented their submission to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. A memorandum for Government is being prepared with the intention that this plan will be presented for Government consideration in the coming weeks.

The phase 1 plan presents us with a useful roadmap for, in particular, the physical as well as the social and economic regeneration of these communities for the period to December 2014, with a total estimated cost of projects amounting to some €337 million. It proposes strategic infrastructure projects of benefit to the wider Limerick region, including a number of new roads, sporting and recreational facilities and a major civic hub centred in Moyross. The plan identifies a range of new housing projects for each of the four areas as well as refurbishment and infill projects to retain certain areas of existing good quality housing. The plan also notes the importance of delivering mixed tenure housing as well as the clustering of projects in the various phases to deliver new communities within the wider strategic planning context. Key community facilities, including a south side integrated youth centre, an education campus at Southill and a community crèche at St. Mary's Park among others, are also identified. The long-term plan also takes account of the new value in the construction market and revises down the total public sector investment envisaged in the original master plans from €1.7 billion to €924 million.

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