Mayor suggests office planned for migrants could house Limerick students

MAYOR John Moran has suggested that River House in the city would be a good fit for student accommodation.

As revealed by Limerick Live, the owners of the now vacant office in the city centre had successfully gained permission to use it to house international protection applicants.

The move sparked demonstrations around the site, which is adjacent to the €200m Opera Centre development.

It’s emerged that since then, Mayor Moran highlighted concerns around it and sought an urgent meeting with the minister responsible for the housing of people fleeing war, Roderic O’Gorman.

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In communication which came to light following a Freedom of Information request from The Irish Times, Mayor Moran wrote: “This is a move by Government which people are upset and disappointed by. From my reading of the situation, this is primarily due to a lack of consultation with the people in the surrounding areas of the planned development, particularly in relation to River House, Charlotte’s Quay and shared by many of us in City Hall.”

The mayor pointed to new legislation around his role which orders that he should be consulted on matters impacting Limerick.
As a consequence of this, he held a meeting with Mr O’Gorman.

He said he believes the wrong approach is being taken over planning in Limerick and nationwide.

“Maybe they should do student accommodation in that location,” he told reporters at a briefing.

“There are concerns across the whole thing. My starting point on this is we need to be able to do our fair share in Limerick in terms of lifting in respect of a serious problem the country has to carry,” he said.

However, he said it should not be the case that just because a developer has a building, it should automatically be used for one purpose.

“What we’d like to do is engage in advanced conversations (with government) to assess areas where services are particularly weak and particularly strong. Where schools are full or not full.

“Then in effect, as a planner, work out where these various things should be. I’d prefer to be doing that on a more permanent basis rather than just waiting for someone who owns a building to say - I can accommodate that,” Mayor Moran said.

“Limerick doesn’t have enough services for Limerick full stop. So you add any more people in, whether they are a bunch of people working in Eli Lilly coming from Cork, or international protection applicants, it’s a strain on services,” he added.

Mayor Moran has also asked the government to consult with him on a number of other issues using the same legislation which compels them to make contact.

This includes the boil water notice in Askeaton, which was only recently lifted.

He believes government will get better at doing this, and doesn’t think there was an intentional lack of communication.

“It’s a totally new process. I’ve explained this to the Taoiseach who understands the issue perfectly well,” he said, adding he believes the government's approach will change as a result.