Former Limerick council boss resigns as chair of local development company
Conn Murray steps away from high-profile role
THE CHAIRMAN of the firm responsibile for redeveloping vast swathes of Limerick city centre is to step down.
Conn Murray is to resign as the chair of Limerick Twenty Thirty (LTT), which is charged with the €200m Opera Square development, and the former Cleeve's site development.
His move comes after it was confirmed a fortnight ago that the chief executive of LTT David Conway is also leaving to take a job as the council manager in Louth.
Mr Murray was himself a council boss - the first chief executive of the then newly-amalgamated Limerick City and County Council in 2014.
In this role, Mr Murray established LTT as a special purpose vehicle of the local authority in 2016, to acquire and transform disused sites in the city into catalysts for physical, economic and social regeneration of Limerick.
Having retired as chief executive of the local authority in 2019, he accepted the call to take over from LTT founding chairman Denis Brosnan a year later.
Mr Murray said that he is stepping away entirely from public service after 45 years and believes it is time for the next phase of Limerick’s development to proceed.
“I am so proud of what has been achieved in Limerick over the past decade and a half, since we found ourselves in a perfect storm of global economic collapse, disproportionate job losses here in Limerick and significant social disadvantage. Limerick Twenty Thirty is a corner stone of the plan we created to help us pivot from that onto a new era of economic and social gain. It has come a long way under David Conway and his team. In a few short years, as projects such as Opera Square and Cleeves Riverside Quarter are completed, its impact on the city and region will stand out even more," he said.
Prior to becoming Limerick's council manager, Mr Murray had roles at local authorities in Tipperary, Cork, Waterford and Louth.
He was town clerk in Limerick City Council for a time, covering the period American President Bill Clinton was made a Freeman of the city.
Mr Conway said: "Conn’s impact on not just Limerick Twenty Thirty but the wider city and county has been enormous. He oversaw the amalgamations of our city and county councils, which was a huge turning point for Limerick. He had the innovation and courage to establish development companies like Limerick Twenty Thirty and Innovate Limerick, all geared at finding creative ways to energise the economic regeneration of the city centre."
Stewart Harrington, another founding board member of LTT is also stepping down - like Mr Murray, at Christmas.