Closure of Limerick's main thoroughfare is traders' main concern

FOR many city centre traders, it’s the closure of The Crescent which has sparked the opposition to Summer in the City.

In what is a busy month as children return to school, retailers have baulked at the idea of closing off a main thoroughfare into the city centre.

The feeling among many traders is that restricting a direct route into the city centre from Raheen and Dooradoyle will encourage some shoppers to opt instead for out-of-town shopping centres.

Shane Gleeson, a committee member of Limerick City Traders’ Association, which lobbied hard against the closure, did acknowledge while there has been a boost at weekends, trade on weekdays has been “seriously damaged” by the move to restrict access to The Crescent.

Although many retailers have opposed that closure outright, there is an acknowledgement from some that it is justified because of the events taking place under the Daniel O’Connell monument at weekends.

There are very few events during the week, although the area has been used by members of the public, including children from city creches.

"Our only issue is The Crescent,” Mr Gleeson added. “The damage being done by this individual closure has been severe. We’d be terrified of it happening again at Christmas. If he [Mayor Moran] wants to go ahead with other closures, that’s fine. We are not going to object. It’s one single closure we need to avert.”

The closure has seen a lot of discussion online – one image posted on Facebook last week showed The Crescent apparently quiet, with a digitally added tumbleweed superimposed on the scene.

Some of the online criticism went beyond the merits of the closures, with the motives of the traders who posed in Catherine Street also being questioned

“Our entire livelihoods are in this town. If our businesses fail, our livelihoods are gone. I don’t know how many thousands of employees we hire,” he said, referring to small traders in the city.

"It’s north of 5,000 people. Our whole futures are in this town. This is real to us. We can’t walk away. If we walk away, we lose everything,” added Mr Gleeson, who runs four Spar branches across Limerick.

Mayor Moran said: “I’ve never been able to fully understand how there is a sense that if you just shut one block at The Crescent, that dissuades people from coming into town.”

He has pointed to the mandate he has received from the people of Limerick following his election as mayor as proof that his measures are what is wanted.

"I did public meetings for my campaign. Therefore there was very strong engagement with the public in terms of the development of the plan. I do believe Limerick wants to change. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t have chosen me,” said Limerick's first directly elected mayor.

Many members of the traders’ group say they feel Mayor Moran has not listened to their concerns.

Chairperson Caroline Long, said some business owners in the city are struggling to survive and feel ignored by the mayor.

"The traders of Limerick are on their knees, and our mayor is not listening to us", she said. “August in Limerick city is a very important time for people coming in to get uniforms, to get shoes. If all the streets are closed and if he makes it more and more difficult for people to come into the city, they're going to go outside. They'll go to the shopping centres".

Mr Gleeson added: “His attitude has been very disrespectful to people a long time in business in the city. Many of these businesses are two, three, four generations.”

There was also been a political backlash to the plans – with three Fianna Fail councillors Catherine Slattery, metropolitan leader Cllr Joe Pond and Cllr Kieran O’Hanlon attempting to invoke rarely-used legislation to stop the closures in their tracks.

Although their bid fell flat, Cllr Slattery is upset the traders did not feel heard.

She said the traders did write to the mayor in the hope of reaching a compromise, but accused him of “going on a solo run”.

"The traders did write to the mayor and asked him not to halt the closures, but instead juggle them around to find a meeting point where they could all agree and go ahead with his August activations. But yet again, the mayor is not taking on board what other people are saying,” she said.

Mayor Moran has said he did offer a meeting to traders, but claimed they wanted it in private.

"The reality is, it’s a meeting where they are lobbying the mayor. The time you get to influence a public policy by not disclosing who you are is at an election in the voting booth. In between, we have strict rules, which say if you are talking to an official about changing, you file a lobbying return,” he said.

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