Some of the things you may have missed as Mayor of Limerick unveils €10.5m spending

A NEW festival celebrating local food produce is set to take place in Limerick.

Mayor John Moran has confirmed a process has opened which is seeking people to come forward with ideas for the new annual event.

“It doesn’t need to be in the city centre. There are a lot of arguments which could have it right out in the Golden Vale in one of our county towns,” he said.

The first citizen confirmed €300,000 of the €10.5m fund he has been allocated for the latter part of last year and all of this year is to be set aside for this.

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The directly elected mayor also acknowledged a demand in Limerick for a Christmas market.

He confirmed that €125,000 is being set aside from his funding to hopefully deliver just this in time for this year’s festive season.

At a special press briefing, Mayor Moran also outlined some measures he is putting in place to improve one of the key crossings of the River Shannon, Sarsfield Bridge.

He will no doubt have one eye on 2035, when it will be 200 years since its opening.

“I want to put money aside because we need to do a full assessment of the condition of the bridge and work out what needs to be done,” he said.

“It’s decades since we have done any serious structural work on the bridge. It is our key bridge right in the city centre. No photograph of Limerick takes place without it.”

Responding to questions from reporters over whether a survey could pave the way for a “massive construction project”, Mayor Moran added: “I hope not. But if this is the condition of the bridge, better we know it rather than hiding and not knowing it.”
Under the new Limerick-Shannon Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy, it is envisioned cars could be banned from the bridge, with its carriageways used only by buses.

Meanwhile, with high hopes the remains of Patrick Sarsfield may have been discovered in the Belgian city of Huy, there is real excitement the Limerick war hero might be repatriated to his home city. Mayor Moran has set aside €700,000 of his €10.5m budget for the restoration of monuments which celebrate the life and times of Sarsfield.

In this number is the Sarsfield Rock near Ballyneety.

It was here where the 1690 ambush of the siege train took place.

And next year marks half a century since the rock was unveiled.

“Another big event we are all hoping we will see in Limerick is if we discover Patrick Sarsfield is really able to come back home.

So we are trying to do a bit to get ready for that. Some funds have been allocated to the restoration of monuments around

Patrick Sarsfield which could help to do a bit of necessary repair work. I know the Sarsfield Rock in Ballyneety is close to some councillors who have asked us to look at it,” he confirmed.

Back in the city, plans are in place to open a fashion museum and incubator at the former garda barracks at Mary Street on King’s Island.

There were plans to sell the building to a private developer, but the first citizen requested the local authority keep a hold of it.

Now, the wooden hoarding from around the site has been removed.

“We have decided this should be the home of another project, long been talked about in the King’s Island, which is the idea of a fashion museum and an incubator,” he explained.

Mayor Moran has been inspired by a similar facility in the American city of Austin in Texas, and a fashion incuabator located there.

He hopes those behind that scheme will provide support to Limerick’s plans, given the sister city relationship which is in place.

“The first thing is to stabilise the building: the roof is falling in, there are trees coming up, the brickwork is unsafe. We have had quantity surveyors and their teams lined up to stabilise the building and prevent further deterioration. The rest of the money we have allocated will start to produce the business case to save the building, get funding for it, and complete the project,” Mayor Moran said.

He also disclosed the former council offices in O’Connell Street are to be refurbished.