Lavina sets the tone in Corbally’s Abbeylock

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A Limerick woman is leading by example in trying to tackle a growing national problem of how ordinary people are being forced, at their own expense, to maintain housing estates. Itโ€™s a problem that is sweeping across the country because local authorities are failing to take the areas in charge for various reasons, and because developers have gone bust. Lavinia McNamara, a resident in Abbeylock, Corbally, which was built 18 years ago, decided enough was enough,

and called to her 63 neighbours to organise a volunteer clean up of the estate, which had become overgrown with grass, trees and bushes.
โ€œI was told I would be fighting a losing battle, but I said Iโ€™d give it a shot. So, I knocked on doors and asked for signatures. So, I started a residents committee. Our area started to get run down so, we set out to clean it ourselves,โ€ Ms McNamara explained.
Residents agreed that while the council has cut grass in the estate from time to time, it hadnโ€™t collected it.
Also, there are no playground facilities for children, only a tarmac square in the middle of a field.
From the smallest children to an 82-year old man, residents took their shovels, rakes, lawnmowers, and chainsaws, to transform the estate into one of the tidiest in Limerick.
โ€œIt was hard work but itโ€™s fantastic to see everyone out cleaning up the estate. Weโ€™ve dealt with a lot of areas, which had been very overgrown. Weโ€™ve cut down branches, overgrown nettles, trees. Weโ€™ve collected rubbish, broken chairs etc. We collected over 45 bags in one area alone,โ€ added Ms McNamara.
She also visited the cityโ€™s Mayor who provided them with gloves, plastic bags, and litter grabbers for the big clean up.
Mayor Jim Long, said: โ€œWeโ€™re cutting the grass as a goodwill gesture. Weโ€™re looking at taking the estate in charge but it may take up to nine months because a number of strict criteria must be signed off before we can do thatโ€.
However, Ms McNamara isnโ€™t stopping just there, and added: โ€œSo, the next thing is to get a grant for bins into the area and a tennis court so that, the children will come out and play in an area that has been provided for themโ€.

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