Minister for Housing, Jan O’Sullivan, along with her party colleague, Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton, visited St Mary’s Park in Limerick earlier today with some welcoming news.
Speaking at the area which had been badly hit with recent floods, O’Sullivan revealed plans to demolish and rebuild homes that have been left uninhabitable by recent conditions.
More than 300 homes in the St. Mary’s estate were badly hit by flooding last week. According to The Irish Times the estimated price of the clean up is expected to run into at least tens of millions of euro.
If the Government decides that the best option is to rebuild houses on higher ground, residents may have to leave their homes entirely.
“One side of St Munchin’s Street (St Mary’s Park) – which is the side nearest the river – is due for demolition anyway, so it doesn’t make any sense that there should be major work done on those houses,” O’ Sullivan said.
The Minister stated that she hoped to “fast-track” the process which in “very early stages”.
“There is a mixture of private and public (houses) and we have them all identified. For a long time now the council officials and the regeneration people have been talking individually to the householders whether they own the houses or whether they are council tenants.
“There are various options available to them (householders). One of the options is that there will be rebuilding done on the higher part of the Island (Kings Island), there will be new houses built there. So, in some cases people may have to go to temporary solution for a period of time until there is a new house built in the area. Others may choose to take vacancies that arise in their areas of choice, which might not be in the King’s Island, but it might be fairly near or fairly adjacent to it.”
Rescue boats were out in force last weekend in Limerick city.
“The current regeneration plan aim is to knock the outer area of St Munchin’s Street and some other areas. Other areas are defined for refurbishment. There are parts of St Mary’s Park that weren’t flooded so there are still some areas that will be habitable into the future,”O’ Sullivan added.
Residents are due to be contacted by officials from the council and the regeneration project to discuss how to progress with the St. Mary’s estate upgrade.
Lead image courtesy of the Limerick Leader.
