Former 'crack house' in Limerick remains idle - three years after purchase

THE LOCAL authority has come under fire for delays in revamping a city property once dubbed a drugs supermarket.

Council took possession of 19 St Ita's Street at St Mary’s Park in 2023.

Despite repeated garda raids, crack cocaine and heroin were allegedly being sold around the clock from the terraced house.

But since the council used special laws to acquire the property, it has lain idle, with local TD Maurice Quinlivan saying there has just been “dumping and more dumping” outside the building since.

"There is a crack house, which was famously all over the news, sitting there idle. How have we been waiting for funding to come through for that for years. How does it take so long,” he asked council director general Dr Pat Daly, who was giving details to a Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, with the session focused on regeneration.

Mr Daly said there could be a number of reasons for delay.

“Sometimes there is interference and we have to try and deal with that. Sometimes they are not as attractive and we have to look at a new design or structure,” he said.

He requested hiscolleague, Declan White, a senior engineer in the council’s regeneration directorate, to give more details.

Mr White confirmed that permission is in place for the redevelopment of the property in St Ita’s Street, along with two neighbouring properties.

"We are waiting for our consultants to pull together the final documentation to drive on that particular project. We expect to be on-site with the refurbishment of 15, 17 and 19 St Ita’s Street, which was the former crack house, in 2027,” he said.

Mr Quinlivan said: “In fairness, it was boarded up a few years ago. That is what frustrated people. They come out of their doors and look at these three houses, and what has been done there? Dumping and more dumping for the past three or more years.”

The Sinn Fein Limerick City TD said he always brings visitors to Limerick to St Mary’s Park to witness the damage the cocaine epidemic has done.

"Anybody who goes into St Mary’s Park – and I bring everybody who comes to Limerick into it – sees the same thing when we drive or walk around it. They literally cannot speak when they see the state of the place. We have been in a regeneration programme for 15 years and it is a disgrace. We should all be ashamed of that,” he told the committee hearing. It was in March 2023 that Limerick City and County Council took possession of 19 St Ita’s Street on a compulsory basis, using powers under the Derelict Sites Act 1990.

The property was subsequently vested in the council after no objections were received, with Gardaí helping to secure the house as part of a joint operation.

At the time, the local authority said it wanted to refurbish 19, along with 15 and 17 St Ita’s Street, and ultimately bring the properties back into use as affordable housing.

Elsewhere in St Mary’s Park, the council had already demolished 12 derelict homes on St Munchin’s Street under Operation Copóg, a joint council and Garda operation launched in March 2021 to tackle drug dealing and anti-social behaviour in the area.

It led to 400 searches of people, 35 warrant searches, 61 drug-possession cases and 49 vehicle seizures in its first year.

The operation also involved the council taking action against derelict properties and other structures regarded as adding to problems in the area.