AN eviction took place yesterday in the estate of Fairview Crescent in Garryowen, the second repossession order carried out by Limerick City Council in an estate troubled by anti-social behaviour.

Gardai accompanied the official carrying out the court order repossession in Fairview Crescent this Tuesday. It was served on a woman who had lived in the house for more than ten years.

The woman had a number of children and had previously lived at addresses in the city. She moved into the house in 2001.

A court order was issued in July of last year to repossess the house, but a stay of six months was put on it. The order was granted for anti-social behaviour reasons.

A special meeting of Limerick City Council was recently told that up to 20 people had to flee from the estate after being the subject of intimidation.

This is the second eviction to take place in the estate, and Kieran Lehane, director of housing with the Council, who has just been appointed the new city manager, said that there were no further repossession orders pending.

“There has been an issue in relation to anti social behaviour in that estate,” he explained.

“The tenancy enforcement unit received complaints of anti-social behaviour and we try as much as possible to resolve those through dialogue, mediation and reconciliation between people, if we can at all. But if all of that fails, there are legal remedies available to the council.”

The house was secured after the eviction to prevent burglaries and damage to it. CCTV cameras have been installed in the area, which are being monitored by gardai.

Mr Lehane said that it was “still a matter of concern” to the council that residents had felt forced to leave the estate because of anti-social behaviour in Fairview Crescent.

He added that the repossession was carried out peacefully and stressed this action was a “last resort” for the council.

LIMERICK has lost out in the competition to bring 1000 jobs to the city with online payments firm PayPal, the Limerick Leader has learned.

It is understood that the massive investment will now go to Dundalk instead.

PayPal already employs 1500 people at its European headquarters in Blanchardstown but reports at the weekend suggested the company was about to confirm a new customer support centre away from the west Dublin base. PayPal executives were shown a number of sites in the Limerick region by the IDA last year but locations in Dundalk were also scouted.

And an informed source told the Limerick Leader this Monday that the Mid-West has missed out.

“Limerick was never really in the running and ultimately the choice came down to either Dundalk or Berlin,” the source said.

Dundalk was seen as a more advantageous location as being “practically a part of Greater Dublin” and with a bigger pool of people with language skills critical for the new call centre.

LIMERICK City Council have teamed up with the Civic Trust and city traders to clean up Cruises Street, with a particular focus on chewing gum.

The council’s environment department recently acquired a new gum removal technology called ‘Gumpak’ which dissolves chewing gum using environmentally friendly techniques.

Paul Foley, Senior Executive Officer with Limerick City Council, explained that the technology is more cost-effective than previous machines which were hired to do a similar job.

“The objective is to improve the street scape and street surface on Cruises Street, particularly focusing on the removal of chewing gum,” he explained.

“We are engaging new technologies which are different to the machines we used before, effectively dissolving the gum into mini granules which are then brushed away,” he added.

A small hand held ‘lance’ with a 12 volt pump and backpack releases an environmentally friendly sugar based product that dissolves the gum, with the street to be subsequently steam cleaned. The whole process should take about six weeks.

“There is so much gum there at the moment that it should be noticeable when it is all removed,” explained Mr Foley.

“We are looking at some other gum initiatives as well for Cruises Street and we hope to roll this out to other streets once we get to grips with it here first.”

Mayor of Limerick Cllr Jim Long joined representatives of the City Centre Tidy Towns Group, Henry Street Gardai, Cruises Street traders and the Chamber of Commerce to launch the new initiative.

“We are very hopeful that this new technology will be of significant help to us in addressing the problem of chewing gum on the city’s streets,” said the mayor.

Limerick Civic Trust are to provide the manpower for the new cleaning initiative, which is hoped will aid the city centre’s bid in the upcoming Tidy Towns competition.

ONE of the most historic areas of the city is in line for a long-awaited upgrade following the acquisition of derelict buildings and plans to pedestrianise the street.

Several derelict sites in Nicholas Street have been purchased by Limerick City Council, which it is hoped will improve this “blighted” area.

City Hall now has an opportunity to transform this area, said Sinn Fein councillor Maurice Quinlivan.

“The neglect of a number of properties along Nicholas Street over a long number of years has been shameful. Developers who bought these properties with the intention of making a fast buck have contributed to a run down and neglected feel to the street,” he said.

Mayor of Limerick, councillor Jim Long, said there are a number of short and long term plans for the area, including an archaeological study on old properties, and the replacement of all lamp posts.

He has mooted that an area of derelict sites could be changed into a carpark to be used by tourists to King John’s Castle.

There are also plans to pedestrianise part of the street during daytime hours, and replace the paving stones.

But Cllr Long said the full two-year programme hasn’t been sanctioned by the council yet.

Funds for the works are expected to come from Bord Failte, the regeneration budget and capital funding from the Department of the Environment, he said.

In the meantime, a number of minor projects in the Nicholas Street area have been announced for the area to be completed before the end of March.

Cllr Quinlivan, who has campaigned alongside residents and traders in recent years for the area to be improved, said he is pleased that the plans are “progressing well”.

The works will include tidying up derelict sites, painting the area, planting flowers and erecting hanging baskets and replacing some fencing.

“Whilst most of these works are minor and somewhat superficial it will give a boost to people in the area that at last some work is commencing and the street is being reclaimed,” said Cllr Quinlivan.