Mayor of Limerick John Moran has revealed the preliminary spending allocations for his 2025 Mayoral Fund. As a once off gesture by central government, reflecting that the establishment of the new office took place in mid-2024, the allocation announcements include spending from 2024 and carryover of unspent 2024 monies to be spent in 2025.
These carry over funds are added to the 2025 allocation of €7 million, giving a total of allocations of €10.5 million of which €310,000 is already allocated from 2024.
In line with how expenditure by national government is divided, the funds are divided into €2,750,000 of current expenditure and €7,750,000 of capital expenditure and this is reflected in the choice of priorities.
The allocations set out today are preliminary and will likely be adjusted as the year progresses and the progress on projects becomes clearer. They, however, give an indication of projects which are intended to be prioritised from this funding source for 2025
Mayor of Limerick John Moran clarified:
“In setting the priorities for 2025, I had two guiding principles. On one side, I have tried to drive on priorities from the #MoreforLimerick programme which are shovel ready for 2025 thanks to work done before last year’s election and/or focus and drive by the teams in the second half of last year. That does not mean that the other projects in the programme have been forgotten. It just reflects that we have limited funds which necessarily need to be prioritised and the ability for projects to leverage in other external funds was also an important factor”
“I have also tried to allocate funding to ideas which I consider to be transformative pilots. These will help show why the solution Limerick needs may need to be a new innovative approach and may not be suited to a “One-Size-Fits-All” nationally applicable policy. By showing value for money or proof of concept for our own ideas in 2025, I hope these pilots will help us unlock many more millions of funding in the remaining years of my mayoral term.”
Other funding sources available to Limerick City and County Council are of course also being used to advance other priorities over the year. The ambition set out in the budget approved last November by Limerick City and County Council refers to over €750 million of capital expenditure in Limerick for 2025.
In establishing the priorities for 2025, the primary criterion for fund allocation was that each project must contribute to delivery of the #MoreForLimerick programme which reflects last year’s conversations with the councillors and the public of Limerick.
“Provided similar funds are released from central government, it is my intention to focus on expanding the list of items in future years.” added Mayor Moran.
This has resulted in the following priority allocations:-
- SMART homes – These rapid build transitional homes remain one of the highest priorities reflecting further increases in demand and the slowness at which long term housing is coming on stream in Limerick. Work is being prioritised to find solutions for rapid delivery on state lands and to secure the relevant national government approvals – Allocation - €1,300,000
- Other Housing – Other housing priorities financed from the mayoral fund can be described as projects which are designed to open up new lands for building and/or road test new innovative approaches recommended in the programme – such as for example trialling Vienna Housing principles to repurpose derelict houses in Abbeyfeale. – Allocation - €2,300,000
- Better Quality City/Town Urban Spaces – Poor quality city centre and town urban spaces hold back cities. The Mayoral fund is not large enough to solve all of the issues but funds are being allocated for trial pilot initiatives – Allocation - €1,095,000
- City Centre Amenities – We all agree that our city centre needs to improve to encourage greater numbers of people to live there and visit from time to time. A number of specific projects are allocated funds to see them move forward including working with Innovate Limerick to investigate new uses for the Royal Cinema and other vacant buildings on Cecil Street – Allocation - €1,715,000
- Activities and Festivals – The mayoral funding is allocated so as to focus on initiatives which add to the existing offering responding to clear public demand for more activation of our city and county – Allocation - €325,000
- Heritage Assets- Business in our city centre is struggling and there are pressing issues with dereliction. Allocations are taking place to boost retail supports and help Limerick City and County Council to do work on heritage assets which are long overdue repairs – Allocation - €1,200,000
- Kings Island – With works on the flood-proofing of Kings Island having begun this year, further allocations are made to begin work or help to raise funds to drive forward additional community/enterprise projects in one of our most deprived neighbourhoods. Separately, funding from other parts of the Limerick City and County Council budget are financing greater maintenance of public housing, the Kings Island Community Centre project and additional social services. Allocation - €700,000
- Kilmallock and other county heritage assets – The #MoreforLimerick programme identifies how heritage assets right across our county can be unlocked for community, enterprise or tourist uses. Allocations for 2025 are focussing on leveraging other funds for a number of state owned assets identified in the programme in Rathkeale and in the Kilmallock district where many other projects are being done in parallel to maximise the positive impact. Allocations – €365,000
- Other Amenity Projects – Most amenity projects in Limerick are funded directly from central government or development levies. Modest amounts are being allocated to a wide range of other amenity projects, with the largest being 200,000 for works on green spaces in Garryowen including the St Patrick’s Well garden. Allocation – €560,000
- Enhancement of Delivery – A learning from the first six months of my mayoralty has been the need to further enhance the resourcing of the delivery of such a comprehensive programme. Funding is being allocated to secure additional help for a number of key areas for 2025, including the delivery of initiatives to combat health disadvantages in Limerick working with the HSE and the WHO. Allocation - €625,000
- Allocated in 2024 – Some allocations already took place during 2024 on some high-profile interventions involving community grants, animation of the city during August and other festivals and events, overdue maintenance and repairs in the public realm and to kick-start the RIAI design review of state lands in Moyross. Allocation 315,000.