Former Limerick TD and Progressive Democrats founder Des O'Malley claims to have pleaded with city officials in Limerick 30 years ago not to build the city's Moyross housing estate, writes Kathryn Hayes.
Speaking at the Limerick Person of the Year awards, Mr O'Malley said a recently-announced regeneration programme - which would see Moyross demolished - was very costly but inevitable.
Mr O'Malley was guest of honour at a ceremony at the Clarion Hotel on Thursday night which saw Dr Edward Walsh, the founding president of the University of Limerick, receive a special lifetime achievement award.
In his address, Dr Walsh called for a bigger boundary extension for Limerick city and a new dockland authority to drive economic regeneration.
Meanwhile, Mr O'Malley, who in 2004 described Limerick's Southill estate as the worst example of social housing policy in Europe, said he was impressed with the approach now being taken by the regeneration agencies.
He said he had warned city officials in the 1970s not to build the northside estate, but was told that the local authority was under pressure from the department of local government to produce a certain number of houses and "the only way they could do it was to build a large number of houses on greenfield sites".
On a separate issue, Mr O'Malley said he was very hopeful that the Progressive Democrats party would continue to exist despite its "unhappy" experience in last May's general election.
He said a change of personnel would enable the party to make necessary changes, but said he does not underestimate the challenge facing it.
"I don't underestimate the difficulties that they face . . . Starting a political party in Ireland is one of the most difficult tasks that anybody can undertake," he said.
The Limerick Person of the Year Award for 2007 was presented to Prof Paul Finucane, who was instrumental in securing the new graduate entry medical school for the University of Limerick, which took in its first students last September.
Prof Finucane, who is head of the faculty, was keen to point out when he accepted his award that the realisation of the graduate entry medical school was not a one-man show, and he paid tribute to his other colleagues at UL for their dedication to the campaign.
The professor said Limerick had changed greatly over the past decade and added that he was "humbled" to have been selected by the judges.