LIMERICK Mayor John Moran had some strong words for Limerick City and County Council this Friday evening (October 31) following the announcement that a popular city pub is to close its doors partly due to the local authority’s removal of a public parklet outside its premises.
Earlier this Friday, Jono Crute, owner of Crew Brewing Company on Thomas Street in the city, announced that the local pub will shut doors for a final time on Christmas eve.
The pub owner cited “the same challenges as everybody in the industry currently” as reasoning for the sudden closure, along with “rising costs and less money in the pockets of our customers”.
He also hit out at the removal of the Council-owned parklet outside the business earlier this month as “the final blow” for his business.
“We had intended to fight through these issues as we always have,” Mr Crute explained, adding that the parklet’s removal impacted his “mental capacity to fight on” for the popular pub’s future.
In a strongly-worded statement issued by the Mayor’s Office this evening, Mayor Moran said he was “dismayed” at the announcement of the pub’s closure, adding that the removal of the majority of the city parklets “without notice or consultation by the Council” should “never have happened”.
In his statement, Mayor Moran claimed that Council officials removed the parklets “without consulting anyone”, including the Mayor himself.
“This should never have happened, I’m very unhappy about it,” Mayor Moran hit out.
“It’s not good enough. Earlier this month we had robust discussions internally about how the parklets came to be removed without discussion, and I’m hopeful there won’t be a recurrence,” read the Mayor’s statement, which was addressed to the press, along with local councillors and Council director general Dr Pat Daly.
The Mayor said that removing the parklets was “inconsistent with my vision for Limerick. I warned a fortnight ago that, if not done carefully and replaced by something better, there could be serious economic consequences. Today’s announcement by Crew Brew strengthens my view.”
‘So-called operational reasons’
The Mayor’s statement included a document prepared by the Mayor’s Office, addressed to the chair of the Council’s Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) on Economic Development, Enterprise, Tourist, and Planning (Fine Gael councillor Peter Doyle) dated October 17, who the statement said “was also not consulted” on the parklet removal, asking for an urgent review of the move.
The document claims that “a decision was made, without socialisation with elected representatives and the Mayor, for so-called ‘operational reasons’, to remove parklets across the city centre”.
“The decision raises serious cross-policy issues, including economic impact, public realm and transport. I now have serious concerns regarding the failure to have a plan for post-removal and the risk that the execution of the decision may appear arbitrary in applying to some but not all parklets,” the document from the Mayor’s Office read.
“This paper conveys my concern regarding the decision to prioritise over the issues, the safety risk proposed by deteriorating public realm buildouts through their removal. While the necessity for swift safety intervention is understood, particularly given the end-of-life deterioration of some wooden components, the subsequent choice to convert the resulting space back into on-street vehicle parking represents a default policy regression.”
“My central concern is that the failure to maintain these structures predetermined the cheapest and fastest default option … leading to a policy action that actively diminishes the city’s social infrastructure and contradicts the spirit of the Mayoral Programme.”
The document claimed that the “long-term deterioration was permitted to continue for months without internal escalation, which limited the final decision to an emergency binary choice: remove and park or risk public safety”.
“The chosen action not only results in the permanent loss of valuable amenity space (including seating areas), sacrificing gains in urban vitality, social interaction, and pedestrian priority for the sake of restoring parking inventory.”
The Mayor went on to call on the SPC for “immediate input to help identify the key issues to be considered in the round and to define a forward-looking policy framework for future of these essential public spaces, maintaining the right balance in their use, even in advance of the finalisation of the full public realm strategy”.
‘Prioritising short-term parking revenue over public amenity’
The document, issued by the Mayor’s office, also hit out at the removal of some city parklets while others were left in place, suggesting the “optics of the decision are also severe”, and claiming that “when I first raised the issue … I was informed that all parklets were to be removed”.
The Mayor hit out that the decision is “prioritising short-term parking revenue over the proven benefits of public amenity, social space, and pedestrian safety”, adding that “the lack of proactive communication and the subsequent necessity for this removal suggests a systemic operational weakness, damaging the credibility of the administration to manage and sustain high-quality urban assets”.
The document goes on to request the SPC to “mandate an immediate pause on all pending build-out removals where the conversation to parking has not yet occurred” and recommend a “clear, ring-fenced budget” for public realm assets.
‘Urgent meeting’
Mayor Moran has also called for a meeting between Council officials and businesses impacted by the removal of the parklets, suggesting there is time yet to save the “beloved” local hostelry.
“I am ready to facilitate an urgent meeting between Council officials across several directorates and all the impacted businesses in the area, including Crew Brew, to see if a solution can be found,” the Mayor’s statement concluded.
Speaking to councillors at a recent Metropolitan District meeting, Director of Services Kieran Lehane said “the temporary parklets were installed five years ago as a temporary measure to assist with the local economy’s recovery during and post Covid lockdowns”.
“All temporary parklets were located within the public realm,” Mr Lehane told the Metropolitan meeting, rather than on any business’ private property.
“The temporary structures were intended to last for one year, but the Council allowed them to remain for an extended period.”
“In response to requests from local businesses, the Council has received submissions from the public and elected members about their deteriorating condition, adverse visual appearance, their use for outdoor smoking areas with attendant associated litter and, more recently, anti-social behaviour,” Mr Lehane added, explaining that alternative solutions were being prepared.