Limerick has had a bad press for many years, mainly because of the city's unusually high level of serious crime. Former Dublin city manager John Fitzgerald certainly pulled no punches in his report to the Government on how this pervasive problem must be addressed. He wrote about the traditional feuding between families or gangs in the bleak estates of Moyross, Southill and St Mary's Park and how this has been further fuelled by drug-related crime.
"Violent crime, related both to gang rivalry and drugs, is now a very serious issue and is gradually extending over wider areas ... Families have been intimidated and houses have been burnt out making it difficult to re-let them," he said, adding that "low-level criminality and anti-social behaviour is also a major concern, with joyriding, stone throwing and intimidation regularly occurring on these estates."
But his report pointed out that serious criminal activity "has been a problem in Limerick for a long time". This is not unrelated to the fact that Moyross and Southill suffer acute social problems, with an unemployment rate five times the national average, a high proportion of one-parent families and significant educational disadvantage with attainments well below the national norm. In short, as Mr Fitzgerald said, these estates "are among the most deprived in the country". The fact that such multiple problems have been allowed to fester for so long is an indictment of Limerick's political leaders over the years, as well as successive governments and society at large.
Why is it the case, as Mr Fitzgerald noted, that 8,000 of the 18,900 homes in Limerick City Council's administrative area - more than 42 per cent - were built as social housing? This was surely a recipe for disaster. As his report made clear, "the construction of large social housing estates in such a confined area undoubtedly helped to create the conditions for problems to develop".
The most troubled part of Moyross, for example, is located in Limerick County Council's administrative area, making a concerted response more difficult. Yet when the city council sought a boundary extension to incorporate this part of Co Limerick lying north of the Shannon, Minister for the Environment Dick Roche rejected it a year ago, saying the councils should find their own way of working together.
This political cop-out has now been revisited by John Fitzgerald who recommended an extension of the city boundary up to the Clare county boundary, saying this change "is critical in facilitating the intensive development and regeneration of the north city area". He also proposed the establishment of two agencies to take charge of urban regeneration in all of its aspects, one on the north side of the Shannon and the other on its south side. However, he assigned the highest priority to more effective policing to deal with crime in the city so that a stable environment is created for the various initiatives to work. The alternative, he warned, is the likely frustration of efforts to address social and economic problems.