Plan to regenerate Moyross brings ray of hope

Some residents see it as a potential turning point for an embattled community, writes Carl O'Brien

Some residents see it as a potential turning point for an embattled community, writes Carl O'Brien

James Ryan has witnessed many dark times growing up in Moyross. Some of his friends have been killed in gangland feuds. Others have died from drug overdoses. But things never seemed as depressed as six months ago when an arson attack almost killed two children.

"Everyone was shocked," the 27-year-old said, while playing with his four-year-old son Jake at the local playground.

"There was a feeling that it couldn't go much lower. People are sick to their back teeth about the trouble. Young people need more alternatives and more opportunities.

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"This is still a great place, despite everything. There is great community spirit. People just need to be given a chance."

Providing a new start for Moyross and other neglected communities in the Limerick area is at the centre of a five-year regeneration plan devised by former Dublin city manager John Fitzgerald last week.

It is an ambitious blueprint, which includes recommendations to demolish 1,000 derelict local authority houses across the city; recruit an additional 100 gardaí in target areas; co-ordinate responses to social and education problems to break the cycle of disadvantage; and extend the city boundary to include areas such as Moyross which have been caught in a no man's land between various local authority boundaries.

The Government passed the recommendations at Cabinet last week, while Opposition parties have unanimously welcomed the projects.

Community development projects across in the city have also backed the plans. Back in Moyross, the reaction is mostly positive, although many are wary of political promises and say they'll reserve judgment until they see action. Some, however, see it as turning point for a community which can once again experience the same quality of life as other parts of the country.

"When I moved here in the early 1980s, people were dying to get a house here," says Declan (52). "Look at the surroundings," he says, pointing to the Clare hills and green fields in the distance. "This could be beautiful again."

"For me, education is the key," says Eugene, a local resident in his 60s.

"We need to educate kids and parents. They can demolish all the houses they want, but if they don't deal with the issues on the ground, it'll be a waste of time."

Others point to the all-too-visible poverty and deprivation as the first major challenge for policymakers.

"We need jobs," says Peggy, a middle-aged woman. "We can't go on with the level of unemployment that's here."

For many, however, just hearing something positive about Moyross in the media after years of relentless negative publicity feels like a breakthrough.

For all the gloomy portrayal of Moyross as a community under siege, it is surprising to find there is still a vibrant sense of community. Its nerve-centre lies in the Moyross Community and Enterprise Centre.

The centre runs a creche, and pre-school and after-school classes for about 100 children each day. It organises youth clubs for younger teenagers during school holidays. It also helps to support students who want to go on to third level.

"When we started that project up around eight years ago we only had eight people going on to college," says Geraldine Clohessy, chairwoman of the board of management.

"Now there's around 40 people we know of in third level education."

Overall, the sustained work of community activists and volunteers who soldiered on through the bad times is beginning to bear some fruit.

A new €2.5 million public library is due to open shortly; a newly-built shopping centre with a supermarket, pharmacy, ATM machine, petrol station and cafe lies at the entrance; a pipe band and boxing club are thriving; while a riverside walkway on the fringes of Moyross is being redeveloped.

Sometimes significant change can come in even smaller ways. Many locals are taking part in the "Moyross is blooming" initiative, in which residents pay a small fee in exchange for hanging baskets of flowers or window boxes for their houses.

But the challenges facing the community can sometimes feel overwhelming. The unemployment rate of about 20 per cent is one of the highest in the country, school drop-out rates are a big problem, while drug and alcohol abuse are destroying large numbers of families.

Regeneration plans have also come and gone before. Millions were spent in the early 1990s rebuilding and renaming Glenagross Park, an estate in Moyross, where almost a third of houses were boarded up and there was 80 per cent unemployment. Today, just over a decade later, many houses there are boarded up or burned-out. Activists such as Geraldine Clohessy say the new plan is different because it targets marginalisation and neglect. But it will take time, money and patience for it to work, she states.

"You can't just regenerate houses, you have to change the conditions on the ground," she says. "This is time intensive and people intensive. It's slow progress, but we need to be out there, working with and supporting people in the community." For Allen Meagher, the Moyross-based editor of the national magazine of the community development programme, Changing Ireland, the plan must involve meaningful consultation with locals if it is to succeed.

"The community will have to be heavily involved through all stages of the plan. The moment that relationship breaks down the plan breaks down. It loses its most significant ingredient for success: the support of the people living here."