INDEPENDENT councillor Maria Donoghue has called for the former Creative Limerick initiative to be updated and re-established to see the occupation of vacant premises in the city by art practitioners.
Creative Limerick was a Limerick City Council initiative developed during the last recession to showcase creative work in the windows of vacant commercial units across Limerick City. Cllr Donoghue pointed out at the recent Metropolitan District meeting that this simple idea was born with a view to keeping the lights on in the city centre.
“This initiative evolved from placing artworks on windows to occupying whole units, and for a while the city was alive with studios, workshops, exhibition spaces – the 2014 City of Culture year saw this at its height with events on every street across the city. We still have at least two legacy spaces from this era: Ormston House and Fab Lab being two of the more prominent,” the City West representative told Council members.
“Given the vulnerability of retail, and the prevalence of vacancy, it is not a huge leap of the imagination to consider that, if we were to revisit and reimagine this initiative, some of these transformed creative spaces could become permanent.”
Cllr Donoghue continued that previously interested parties entered a licence agreement with no leasing or energy costs borne by the occupants, and the cost of public liability was the responsibility of the local authority.
“There is certainly an opportunity to modernise this framework and tie it into the new Vacancy Rates Scheme, and certainly it should be redesigned to incorporate emerging industries such as digital media, gaming, and expanded to include start-ups and recording studios,” she told the meeting.
“Limerick has around 1,500 graduates every year from the creative industries across our third level institutions – outside Dublin, this concentration of talent is surely exceptional. And where are these graduates now? Studio space is scarce, creative infrastructure is limited, and artists, designers. and start-ups are relocating to where space is available.
“This is not simply a cultural issue – it is an economic and social issue. We are looking a gift horse in the mouth by failing to retain greater numbers of these graduates, creatives who hold so much potential for the growth of Limerick.
“The strongest identity any city can have is one rooted in its own people, creativity, and culture. We do not need to invent a brand for Limerick. We need to invest in what is already here. Supporting homegrown talent is the most powerful form of city branding imaginable.”
In response, the local authority explained that Creative Limerick was a previous partnership initiative that Limerick City Council engaged with third level institutes, creative industries, and commercial property owners to activate vacant properties while promoting the creative industries.
“The Council acted as a facilitator between landlords and creative practitioners via a licence agreement to enable short term and temporary use of vacant commercial premises between leases during a downturn in the economy. The Creative Limerick initiative and subsequent schemes including the Limerick Business &
Retail Incentive Scheme had limited impact and led to the current suite of incentives on offer to support,” the Council stated.
Limerick City and County Council, it continued, now offers the Vacant Business Premises Rates Incentive Scheme, launched in 2026 to incentivise and encourage reoccupation of vacant retail/commercial properties to combat vacancy in the core retail
area of Limerick City Centre providing support over a four-year period to a maximum value of €30,000.
“There are additional financial supports available under national grant programmes administered by Limerick City and County Council to assist in the refurbishment of vacant properties to bring them back into use (eg Living City Initiative and Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant.”