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Limerick’s regeneration project is in jeopardy due to a scarcity of public funding and locals in the city’s most disadvantaged estates are becoming disillusioned, writes JAMIE SMYTHSocial Affairs Correspondent

‘NEXT STOP, New Life – Regeneration five minutes away,” proclaims the colourful mural in the sports hall at the newly built youth centre on the Southill estate in Limerick. It is one of scores of paintings prepared by local children as part of a project to identify what the Government’s €3 billion regeneration project in Limerick means for them and their community. The images of smiling faces, playgrounds, rainbows, trees and flowers are in stark contrast to the drab reality of the estate outside, where burnt-out houses and illegal dumping blight the landscape.