Plans to close Crescent area of Limerick city centre

THERE are plans to close a section of Limerick’s main thoroughfare to traffic on set days in the run up to Christmas.

Limerick City and County Council has published a notice advising it will close the Crescent area around the Daniel O’Connell monument on three Sundays next month - December 8, December 15 and December 22 - between 12 noon and 6pm.

This is being done to “facilitate Christmas activities”, but there is no further information.

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The council will unveil its programme for Christmas on Wednesday. If the road closure goes ahead, it will be the second time this year it has happened, with the section around the fountain also impassible to motors in August. They were redirected around the closed area.

Fine Gael councillor Sarah Kiely says she has been contacted by 10 business people in the city centre who are concerned about a drop off in trade during the vital festive period.

“They are very concerned we are drawing people away from the centre where we want people to dwell and shop. If they are going to be up at the Crescent, will they not be in the other areas? We have lots going on at Arthur’s Quay: an ice rink, a pedestrianised area in Bedford Row. It is better putting something like this in the heart of the city where people have a longer dwell time,” she told Live95FM.

But Independent councillor Maria Donoghue has welcomed the planned closure. “The Crescent is a gateway into Limerick city. For anyone coming into shop, it will set up an ambience. If we focus everything on the shopping district we might be losing perspective,” she said.