Residents of Limerick retirement village highlight need to protect older renters
RESIDENTS of a Limerick retirement village have kicked off a campaign to highlight the need for greater protection of older renters.
More than 50 people were at a public meeting in the Castletroy Park Hotel to urge the government to step in and introduce comprehensive legislation on the operation of current and future retirement villages.
It comes after residents of the Park Retirement Village in the suburb were sent letters warning them of steep rent rises from the facility’s operators.
The newly formed Castletroy Retirement Village Association has 30 new members willing to lend their time and skills to the campaign, alongside 20 people still living in the facility, said long-term resident Kevin Ryan, who organised the meeting.
He added: “With the end of Covid-19, it was possible for residents to meet.
“They’ve not been able to do this collectively since February of 2020, so they were really happy to meet one-another. The residents committee decided we should broaden the support and not just have the residents fighting their own cases.
“We want to get a political movement going to support retirement villages in general.”
There has been tension between residents and the retirement park’s operators, with tenants alleging the clubhouse facility they used to meet in was locked, with activities curtailed leaving them without a social outlet on-site.
Edel Madden of the operator, CRV Park Ltd has previously denied these claims.
A number of local politicians attended the meeting, including Labour councillor Elena Secas who saw a motion urging government to act passed unanimously at this month’s metropolitan meeting.
She said: “It was just heartbreaking to hear how service after service has been removed from the village leaving people to live in isolation, with no social aspect involved, with services they would have had for years being removed. This distressful situation would not have occurred if there was specific legislation in Ireland on the operation of current and future retirement villages.”