IT is one of the most notorious housing estates in the country, blighted by poverty, drug dealing and feuding criminals. But monks working in Limerick's Moyross said yesterday that life for its residents was improving.
"We have seen quite a few changes. The biggest we have seen is with the people and the way they live their daily lives," Brother Shawn O'Connor, who moved to St Patrick's Friary in Moyross in July 2007, told the Irish Independent.
"Neighbours told us when we first moved in there, that (their) kids wouldn't play on the street very much or else with great caution. Now they are out there almost every day. I don't think anyone thinks anything of it to let their kids go out and safely play in the streets. That is one change, I don't know if that has anything specifically to do with us.
"It's gotten quieter there certainly, I know that. Obviously there are still things going on that everybody knows aren't so good. But there haven't been big violent events or things of that nature," he added. Br O'Connor said people in Moyross had "more hope" as their quality of life improves.
"The best thing you can expect to do as an individual in any place ... is what you can do yourself. If we can inspire people just to make that difference, no matter how small it might be, then you have made a difference. That is what we are trying to do at a tangible level," he said.
Since arriving in the country three years ago from the Bronx in New York, the monks have opened up a second friary in Derry.
"We won't go any place unless we get invited by a bishop. The two places we got invited to were Limerick and Derry and we accepted both of those. They are good places to be," Br O'Connor said.
Br O'Connor and his fellow monks will talk about political, social and economic issues in an open forum at the White House pub in O'Connell Street, Limerick, on May 17 at 9pm.
"Anything anybody wants to talk about within reason. I will field the questions, I don't know if they will like the answers, but it should be good," he added.
SIC: II