{"id":928447,"date":"2026-08-20T16:17:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T21:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/limerick-businesses-back-mayors-superblocks-plan-despite-trader-opposition\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T16:17:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T21:17:57","slug":"limerick-businesses-back-mayors-superblocks-plan-despite-trader-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/limerick-businesses-back-mayors-superblocks-plan-despite-trader-opposition\/","title":{"rendered":"Limerick businesses back mayor’s superblocks plan despite trader opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 100 retailers<\/a> asked John Moran to \u201cnot proceed\u201d, with the Limerick City Centre Traders Association protesting in the city against road closures planned to facilitate several summer activities.<\/p>\n

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Kicking off this bank holiday weekend, the activities include an obstacle course racing championship, the TAFISA European Sports for All Games, the All-Ireland Skateboarding Championship, a long-table dinner at The Crescent, as well as an urban beach on Steamboat Quay \u2014 which officially opened\u00a0on Friday.<\/p>\n

The owner of No 1 Pery Square, Patricia Roberts<\/a>, said she is in favour of the August activation programme \u2014 despite the road closures in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cAugust is a time when traditionally a lot of people leave the city,\u201d Ms Roberts told the Irish Examiner<\/span>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause our city is around the gateway to the Wild Atlantic Way, we\u2019re very close to the coast as well. I think we need to give people reasons to stay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city is very walkable as we know. It has a lot of green spaces, naturally has a lot of areas that can be brought to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Read More<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

2024 August Animation pilot\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2024, the August Animations initiative was introduced as a pilot to see Limerick streets \u201ccome alive\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last year, Mr Moran faced a backlash after announcing plans to close the Crescent area at the top of O\u2019Connell Street to facilitate summer activities.<\/p>\n

Ms Roberts said: \u201cI think August 2024, when it was trialled, was good, but it needed more activity. More activity brings more people naturally into the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand to a level the concern of some traders, but I think we need to look a step beyond that because if we\u2019re to measure from where we\u2019re at now, we\u2019ll never grow. There\u2019s a risk in everything we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas Fialon owns The French Table restaurant on Steamboat Quay, close to the urban beach.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cBusiness is down during the summer anyway, so I\u2019m in favour of the summer activities. I really hope for more footfall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We are actually creating a barbecue event all weekend in conjunction with the opening of the beach. To me, it\u2019s all positive. We\u2019re getting flowers; it has been cleaned down. We have never been looked after that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Letter from ‘concerned residents’<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a group of \u201cconcerned residents\u201d in the city have penned a letter addressed to the Limerick City Traders Association and politicians regarding the activities, asking for their voices to be heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile considerable attention has been given to the concerns of traders and politicians, comparatively little space has been afforded to the residents who live in the city centre and experience its challenges and opportunities every day,\u201d the letter stated.<\/p>\n

They added that, for years, business owners and residents alike have decried the need for changes to ensure Limerick city \u201cdoes not fall into a state of terminal decline\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome commentary has created the impression that the city centre will become inaccessible during August,\u201d the letter stated.\u00a0\u201cIn reality, the proposals involve temporary road closures, diversions and managed access arrangements rather than a wholesale closure of the city centre.\u201d<\/p>\n

“This consistently negative and oppositional messaging will do more to discourage people from visiting and experiencing the positivity of the city centre than any of the mayor\u2019s proposals.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Read More<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Irishexaminer.com
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 100 retailers asked John Moran to \u201cnot proceed\u201d, with the Limerick City Centre Traders Association protesting in the city against road closures planned to facilitate several summer activities. Kicking off this bank holiday weekend, the activities include an obstacle course racing championship, the TAFISA European Sports for All Games, the All-Ireland Skateboarding Championship<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":928448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2487,91695],"tags":[12102,91694],"class_list":["post-928447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-businesses","category-limerick","tag-businesses","tag-limerick"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=928447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/928448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=928447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=928447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=928447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}