Limerick city is decaying and is being abandoned in the belief that there is a better quality of life available in the suburbs, according to the authors of a radical new plan for the city.
Plans for a "new Limerick", with a population of 150,000, were unveiled yesterday to a gathering of some of the city's public and private sector players.
The meeting was organised by EML architects who undertook to produce a blueprint on how to transform Limerick into a dynamic European city by 2020.
The blueprint, Opportunities for Urban Development, Where to Next? includes a number of radical changes for Limerick including the demolition of the city's first pedestrianised shopping area on Cruises Street in order to make way for redevelopment that would bring 24-hour life back to the city centre.
"We are the only city in Ireland, if not Europe, where suburban commercial rents are higher than those in the city centre," said EML managing director Hugh Elliott.
"We want to transform Limerick into a new city where 150,000 people will choose to live; a city that will attract investment, and tourism and become a thriving cultural and economic centre," he added.
The plan, which was presented by EML director Michael Landers, identified specific sites for regeneration and development. "The number of prominent gap-sites and unsightly buildings serve to give the impression that Limerick is run down, marginal and unsafe and is not in any way attesting that the negative media attention is unfounded," said Mr Landers.
"Our image is what will initially sell Limerick as a forerunner in the race for new investment in our city . . . We need to proudly compete with Cork and Galway to become the hinge point of the new Atlantic corridor," he added.
The University of Limerick's Dean of the Kemmy School of Business, Donal Dineen, chaired yesterday's meeting. Also attending was acting chief executive of the new Limerick Regeneration Bodies, Brendan Kenny.
Another briefing will take place in four months time when an estimated cost for some of the proposals is due to be discussed.