LIMERICK IN MOTION
A Roadmap for the Vibrant Future of Limerick Long before the pandemic emptied cities worldwide, it was clear to business community leaders that Limerick city wasn’t performing to its maximum capacity as an economic engine for growth in the region. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, cities around the globe instantly emptied out as office and service workers were instructed to stay at home, exposing just how vulnerable many urban centres have become. Pre-COVID challenges for Limerick included the rise of online retail and the donut effect – a term to describe the movement of activities out of city centres to the suburban ring – were taking their toll on the city centre. Member companies were citing the dilapidated city centre as challenging when competitively hiring talent, attracting people into the market to live in the region, and retaining those already here. Chamber members questioned why the city centre didn’t reflect the vibrancy of the regional economy. Chamber CEO Dee Ryan explained that weaknesses in the city’s development were clear as early as 2019. “City centre revitalisation was on our agenda preCOVID-19,” Ryan said, explaining that the city was highlighted as a priority in the updated Chamber Vision in 2019. “We knew we wanted to be proactive drivers for city revitalisation, given how important the city is as an engine that drives the economy,” explained Ryan. When the COVID-19 crisis hit, those fears were confirmed as the city became a ghost town, footfall dropped, and many feared for the viability of the businesses that were there. So, with concern for how the city would revitalise once the pandemic crisis eased, the Board of the Limerick Chamber commissioned the Future Limerick Report that would give a roadmap for the steps needed to achieve a truly thriving city. Limerick Chamber chief economist Dr. Catríona Cahill explained that sustainable development of the city was one of the primary focuses of the research, “Sustainability as a word often has a narrow meaning, especially when it’s looked at under the lens of the green economy, but it’s much broader than that.” Instead, Cahill pointed out, “Achieving sustainable development for Limerick will mean promoting the creation of high value sectors for employment and making quality of life a priority in every policy.”
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Cahill explained that the city itself has a large impact on attracting qualified employees. “Businesses were finding it difficult to attract and retain talent, and it wasn’t because they weren’t offering an appealing financial package,” Cahill said. “Workers now place a higher value on the quality-of-life component, and the city environs contribute to that.” These elements are largely outside of the control of businesses but can have an enormous impact on a business’s workforce sustainability. The report was undertaken to understand how Limerick is performing currently, to give recommendations on how the city could achieve a more robust city centre that would provide a higher quality of life to current and future residents, and to give measurable benchmarks for transparency and accountability alongside these initiatives.
This report highlights that there’s an interdependency between rural and urban areas, it’s not rural versus urban – for the county to thrive, we have to have a functioning city. Limerick Chamber Chief
Economist Dr. Catríona Cahill
The researchers looked at both strengths and weaknesses in Limerick’s development. Cahill said: “We’ve described it as a ‘warts and all’ report. We were taking a gamble by highlighting areas where Limerick fell short in terms of development as some may argue that only the positives should be accentuated in order to attract new investment. And yes, we do want to support efforts to attract new investment, but we, first and foremost, have a responsibility to the businesses that have already chosen to invest in Limerick. Ignoring or glossing over weaknesses won’t make the situation on the ground any better for them.” Researchers at Indecon looked at various elements of Limerick as a city, including education and skills, health, housing, and employment, and determined that a hybrid economic model will work best
for the future development of Limerick. The report made 67 recommendations that apply to local government as well as national government, and delivered a suite of data that will help inform policy decisions in the coming months. The Chamber is now actively seeking acknowledgement by the national government that a coordinated approach to addressing the challenges facing Irish cities is needed, especially because 50% of population growth to 2040 is expected in the five urban centres around Ireland. Unfortunately, until now, a national strategy has only been developed for the rural component of the country and the cities have once again been left to their own devices. “This report highlights that there’s an interdependency between rural and urban areas, it’s not rural versus urban,” said Cahill, “For the county to thrive, we have to have a functioning city.” In addition to government support for city centre vibrancy initiatives, one of the first recommendations the Chamber is working toward is to ensure greater transparency for the public. “Local government reports often lack quantifiable targets or timelines, which makes it hard to review and monitor progress achieved,” Cahill said. To this end, the Chamber is actively lobbying for a live public dashboard to be implemented by the Council that will allow monitoring of economic and social data, and show progress on large scale projects. The Chamber has proposed an online tracker, Cahill explained, “Citizens will be able to see how projects are developing, and if there are delays, they’ll be able to see what’s causing the delay and when they can expect completion.” Chamber executives hope this additional transparency will begin to cut down on public frustration and allow those who live in and enjoy Limerick and the surrounding area to visualise the ongoing developments. The Chamber will be releasing additional policy initiatives based on the extensive research that the Future Limerick Report revealed. Chamber leadership is confident that this information will provide an extensive roadmap toward achieving a vibrant city centre.
