Upgrades to Limerick amenity's lights ruled out

UPGRADES to public lighting along the Castletroy Urban Greenway have been ruled out.

At this month’s metropolitan district meeting, Labour councillor Elena Secas renewed her appeal for improvements to the lighting along the popular amenity.

It comes following a number of incidents along the greenway in recent weeks, most notably the assault of two teenage girls last month.

In the wake of this, the council conducted a lighting survey.

In a written response to a question from Cllr Secas, Sean McGlynn of the council’s Active Travel department wrote the survey found that what is there “satisfies” the lighting standards required.

Although his written answer did not explicitly state the lights would not be upgraded, the Limerick Leader has established this is the case.

Cllr Secas was left furious with the answer, and has pledged to escalate the matter. “I wasn’t pleased at all with the response. I think we sometimes go by the book. Most of the time it’s a good thing. But if the majority of the people using the greenway say it’s lit poorly and needs to improve, the council should listen to that,” she said.

The Limerick City East councillor pointed out that the recent assaults on the greenway had sparked calls for the installation of CCTV cameras.

But she argued without adequate lighting, it would prove difficult to identify offenders.

“I would have raised this with council way before the latest incident occurred on the greenway. This has been mentioned to me on the doorsteps again and again,” she said.

Cllr Secas said she had tried to get the results of the survey informally but had not had a response.

This led to her putting down a question at this month’s meeting.

“If people are saying the lighting needs to be improved, then I think the council needs to be more proactive and listen to what people are saying as opposed to the results from a survey,” she concluded.

As a result of low lighting and a lack of CCTV, many locals in Castletroy have said they feel the greenway has become a “no go area” after certain times.

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It came after the two teenage girls were assaulted in an unprovoked attack by a gang of youths.

Calls have been made for a community patrol in the area following the incident with residents meeting with a view to forming one.

They also want a heightened garda presence along the route.

In November 2022, a teenage boy was walking along the greenway when he was approached by a number of males, one of whom was armed with what was believed to be a hammer.

His phone was taken during the course of this incident - no injuries were sustained.