REGENERATION MEETING
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Chairperson of the Moyross Residents' Alliance, Tommy Daly, attended a meeting of the curiously titled 'Moyross Partners' on 18th March 2009. Mr. Daly said that he wasn't formally invited to the meeting but was asked to accompany a resident who believed that a regeneration meeting was taking place.

"The meeting wasn't open to ordinary residents but was discussing matters and making decisions that will affect all the residents of Moyross," said Mr. Daly

Representatives the of Paul Partnership, Community Enterprise Board, Limerick City Council, the Northside Regeneration Agency and the Agency-run residents forum were in attendance.

"These meetings are taking place every month and yet ordinary residents don't know what's going on because no one is telling them. What is the point in having these meetings if the residents of Moyross are not being informed? Indeed, what's the point in having a resident's forum when there is no real debate? The decision to demolish our estate was made over our heads and the area is being deliberately run down so that people will want to move out. In my view, the residents of Moyross were very poorly represented by those purporting to do so at the meeting."

Mr. Daly said that "one so-called residents rep challenged my presence at the meeting and had the affront to ask me where and when the Moyross Residents Alliance held our meetings. I informed the meeting that the MRA holds regular committee meetings and had written to both Limerick City Council and Mr. Brendan Kenny of the Regeneration Agency on numerous occasions but had never once received a reply."

"The Moyross Residents Alliance is the only independent residents group in Moyross and we are the only group informing residents of their rights. People are being bought out for a pittance and tenants are being displaced. The place is being run down and is not properly policed. The residents' forum is a bad joke, leading residents by nose and not defending people's rights." said Mr. Daly

"We invited the Dublin based Tenants First to Moyross and we tried to get the community hall to hold a Tenants First workshop to help empower residents, but we were refused. No one from the residents' forum bothered to attend a Tenants First workshop in Dublin when they were invited. The MRA has a constitution and is now affiliated to the newly established Limerick Regeneration Watch, a citywide organisation for residents living in regeneration areas. We will continue to defend residents rights and we will not be brow beaten or bullied by anyone," he concluded.

ENDS.

Note to Editor: The Moyross Residents Alliance is representative of both homeowners and tenants living in Moyross and was formed to ensure that all residents have their rights upheld during the regeneration process. The local regeneration committees seem to be failing in this regard and are not representing our views. So far over 250 households are affiliated, with more joining everyday .- 23/03/08

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