A PARISH priest working in one of the country's most run-down urban neighbourhoods has said the local authority is offering no protection to tenants, who have had to abandon their homes. Fr Pat Hogan who works and lives in Southill, Limerick, which is set to undergo a major physical and social regeneration, said he took no joy in his scathing attack on Limerick City Council (LCC), but he would not be doing his duty if he remained quiet.
He said the local council was landlord to many who caused violence, harassment and had forced families and elderly people to desert their homes in the middle of the night. Others have had to sell their properties for as little as €25,000.
"Those who left have horrendous stories to tell. To say that they were vulnerable, devastated and deeply upset is an understatement," he said.
In an open letter to the city council, Fr Hogan said the southside suburb was not the only Limerick community left "long neglected and abandoned by its own city".
"LCC never seemed to have grasped the point that they have ultimate responsibility for the condition of the regeneration areas of the city," Fr Hogan wrote.
In response, the local authority said it had spent almost €20m on regeneration over the past two years and had investigated 525 cases of anti-social behaviour with 442 resolved and 41 houses surrendered or repossessed.
However, Fr Hogan said rather than apologise, LCC drew "more comfort and escape in demonising the people of these areas, saying that they are at the cause of all problems".
Fr Hogan pointed out that Stuart Shankar, one of the world's leading educational psychologists, visited Southill last week and remarked that some of the children he met were as traumatised as any he had met in the most conflicted parts of the world.
'Extraordinary'
The Holy Family Parish priest said he lived alongside the "most extraordinary" people, "but it is difficult to escape the conclusion that LCC despises all its own citizens in the regeneration areas and is prepared to deal with them with very little sensitivity or justice". He said LCC had a duty to ensure its tenants did not cause havoc.
Fr Hogan said he took the decision to write the open letter after he was "brushed aside by council staff" when he asked to speak to them on the issues.
"If I as parish priest can't get a hearing with the council, how can anybody else?" he asked.
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(Source: II)