Another date set for O’Connell Street completion in Limerick city

MULTI-MILLION euro works to transform O’Connell Street in Limerick city are anticipated to be “fully completed” within the month of May, council has said.

This weekend, with tens of thousands of people set to descend on the city for Riverfest, work on the revitalisation programme will cease.

It comes as traders call for no more major work to take place in the city centre for the next two years “to allow businesses to recover”.

Shane Gleeson, a member of a traders’ delegation who met with Neale Richmond, the minister with responsibility for retail said: “Between Covid-19 and the roadworks, we’ve had four years of waste. We need a couple of years grace without roadworks, to recover.”

Work on the revitalisation of Limerick’s main thoroughfare began in April 2021 with a projected completion date of November 2022.

That was since put back, with the Leader revealing in February that council were looking at a proposed April finish.

As part of the €9.1m project, wider footpaths are in place to allow more people to gather. Planters are in place, while there are spill-out zones from shops and cafes.

The new plan sees general traffic reduced to one lane on the street – and a bus lane.

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Street furniture and water features are being added, with a central plaza at Thomas Street by Brown Thomas used as a focal point for pedestrian gathering and on-street trading.

A council spokesperson said the contractor is in the “final stages” of work to complete the revamp.

“The project is anticipated to be fully completed in May,” they confirmed, “The project is at the on-side construction stage and is nearing handover.”

Asked what has caused the latest round of delays, the council added: “Delays were caused by unforeseen remedial works required to address localised pre-existing soft spots uncovered within junctions in advance of laying the final surface treatment. In addition, necessary repairs were required to rectify unforeseen damage to underground vault structures.”

Traders have asked for governmental support to bring customers back to the city in the wake of the disruption. The Limerick City Centre Traders Association – which represents almost 200 business people – met Mr Richmond this week.

Mr Gleeson, who runs Spar in Catherine Street, said: “The key things we looked at is because the roadworks have gone on for this length of time, a lot of our custom, maybe up to half, were not able to access the city. We are hoping to re-welcome them to the city, and get a programme of events going on.

“We all had the same ask: between Covid-19 and the roadworks, it’s knocked a huge percentage off our trade which used to access the city. They are out of the habit of coming in, so we need to do something to bring them back in. We need big stuff, not little stuff. And we need it for a year or two,” Mr Gleeson concluded.