'They lost their homes and nobody listened'

Could the scenes of destruction seen in the London riots in August be played out in Limerick? They already are, argues Southill parish priest Fr Pat Hogan.

This article was first published in the Limerick Leader, September 3, 2010. 

I hear the question being asked, "Could the recent violence that happened in London and elsewhere in the UK happen here?" We saw the damage done to families, communities and the individual lives destroyed. Could it happen here?

The real answer is that it is happening here. It happens in our own city on a nightly basis. Over the past number of years, countless decent citizens have fled their homes in this city in fear and trembling, having spent years of sleepless nights, broken windows and physical assaults.

During the month of August, on one Limerick street, five families were forced to flee their homes after years of mental torture. Those leaving bore all the signs of years of sleeplessness and shattered nerves.

I have witnessed the anguish of residents, whom I was privileged to call neighbours, driven from their much-loved homes and from their community that they appreciated. It is difficult to understand the depth of the pain that has been caused to those who fled, having spent decades putting their homes, their places of memories, together. Some did not survive too long and died soon after – such was the trauma of leaving.

So for many in Limerick the disturbance witnessed in London is not news on the TV but a daily reality here and now in their own lives, slowly, insidiously breaking down their health and driving them to despair. The fact that these were decent people didn't matter. The fact that they worked all their lives didn't matter. The fact that they paid taxes didn't matter. The fact that they raised excellent families didn't matter.

What did matter was that they belonged to the marginalised communities in Limerick and they were forced to take the blame for some lawless elements in their communities. So even though theyhavebeen crying out their pain for years, no one listened. They felt and still feel totally abandoned.

Those lawless elements in their communities were the creation of flawed housing policies and the cowardice of the city in facing down the small percentage of people who had no respect for anyone or any law. We can count the cost of public property destroyed by such lawlessness in hundreds of millions, but we cannot measure the cost of the human tragedies endured by so many families.

‘Decent people felt totally abandoned’

Sadly, many may lose their homes due to the current financial woes of the country, causing them real pain. But hundreds have been losing their homes right through the good times; only the fact that they are from Southill or Moyross makes them different. They don't seem to have the same rights or protections. In fact, many of those who have been driven out and those remaining strongly suspect that those who prove to be lawless are doing the city a favour, in that they are clearing these areas of everyone and everything, so that valuable land is freed up for future development.

It is sad to see that the housing policies pursued in the 1980s (of buying out those who could provide community leadership or stability) still continues. We still continue to remove people who could provide stability or leadership, offering a paltry sum for their homes. The city calls it compensation.

If an inquiry was to allow the people who have lost their homes to the city to tell their stories, it would make for very sad and shameful reading.

But we are not meant to question the way that our city is managed. The people on the estates can't question or speak up because they fear retribution. You may be abandoned and ignored but worse could befall you. Neither are we meant to question the absolute mess made of the Roxboro interchange, where traffic from Dublin, County Limerick, Kerry and Cork has been prevented from entering the city.

Who allowed a concrete wall to be built across the entrance to the city that is nearest to its centre? Will anyone answer? Canwe ask, how is it that our city at its centre is falling into such a state of disrepair? Will anyone answer?

It is good to see that the management of county and city is about to change. But whatwecertainlydonotwant is more of the same.We need a form of local government that is more transparent and accountable to the public.

We might call ourselves a democracy, but most of the serious decisions that affect us are taken behind closed doors.

'During August, on one Limerick street, five families were forced to flee their homes'

It is sad to see that in the discussion for the new joint local authority structure there is no public involvement, no consultation with the people (for whose benefit the local authorities supposedly exist) of what they would or would not like. As the people on the regeneration estates know only too well, the public are deemed a nuisance and should be avoided at all costs.

What we need in the future is a structure that engages with the public as friends not as enemies, and a structure that provides leadership for all of Limerick to prosper in all aspects. We must also recognise that regeneration must be part of any local government.

There are parts of our cities and local areas that break down and are in need of regeneration and renewal.

In fact, part of the problem that we are experiencing is that there was never a response to beginning signs of breakdown that were evident, with the result of extreme social problems that consume vast amounts of energy and resources.

Our present regeneration team have experienced many obstacles since coming to Limerick but they have stood in the kitchens and walked the streets and have felt the anger and the despair of the people. So regeneration must be an integral part of any form of government, local or national.

For many on the regeneration estates of Limerick it is already too late, their homes are gone, bulldozed into the ground by a city that never listened to them or saw them as anything worthwhile. We need a real change in the way we do local authority.

The front page of the Limerick Leader on 3 September 2011 published an abridged version of the above article. The Leader 2 section had the full article.

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