Council to look at reasons behind city business closures

Cllr Daniel Butler

LIMERICK City and County Council has been asked to carry out consultation and research on the reasons behind business closures in the city.

Fine Gael councillor Daniel Butler told members of the councilโ€™s economic development, enterprise and planning Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) on Monday, that this would inform the development of a more effective policy of supporting city centre business.

โ€œWe need to go out and develop clear coherent supports for businesses that will help bring them back to life. Rather than suggesting reasons why they are failing we need to engage with them so we can then come up with a policy to support them and rejuvenate the city,โ€ Cllr Butler explained.

Seconding the motion, Sinn Fein councillorย Sรฉighin ร“ย Ceallaigh pointed out that this yearโ€™s Riverfest and St Patrickโ€™s Festival had bought huge footfall into the city.

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โ€œWe need to make sure we are on the right track. We need to see what we can do, but also what they can do,โ€ย Cllrย ร“ย Ceallaigh declared.

โ€œYou have to wonder why shops are remaining empty when there was huge footfall throughout the year. On St Patrickโ€™s Day some shops in the city wouldnโ€™t even put up a bit of shamrock. You can bring a horse to water but you canโ€™t make it drink. We need to encourage them to do more.โ€

Fianna Fail councillor James Collins said he wanted to see the city centre busy โ€œall day every dayโ€.

โ€œRiverfest and St Patrickโ€™s Day are only two events in the year. We need to provide a vibrant city centre with footfall seven days a week,โ€ he said.

Labour Party councillor Joe Leddin felt more consistency was needed.

โ€œWe need people living in the city centre. We have been very active as a council but we need a town centre manager to liaise with businesses, to engage with them on the supports available and also to help with marketing and customer engagement events,โ€ he suggested.

Independent councillor John Loftus said Limerick city centre was the only city centre he had ever seen with โ€œno one living thereโ€.

โ€œThe Crescent Shopping Centre is busy every day, thatโ€™s the biggest problem,โ€ย he claimed.

Cllr Butler thanked councillors for supporting his motion and agreed there were many issues including parking and traffic management that needed to be looked at.

โ€œLets inform ourselves first. It is our role to support the city centre,โ€ he added.

Mayor Stephen Keary suggested that students at Limerickโ€™s third-level colleges conduct the survey on an annual basis.

โ€œThereโ€™s no point waiting till the horse has bolted,โ€ he said.

Eamon Ryan of Limerick Local Enterprise Office raised concerns about the โ€œcommercial sensitivitiesโ€ that would be involved in the collection of such data but agreed that consultation was needed.

โ€œWe will sit down with all the parties,โ€ he assured councillors.

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