Limerick Shopfronts to Meet Minimum Standards

Shopfronts across Limerick will soon be required to meet a minimum aesthetic standard.

Acting on a suggestion by Fine Gael councillor Olivia O'Sullivan, Limerick City and County Council unanimously agreed to amend the local authority plan to "ensure a high quality design and coherence in the development of shopfronts through Limerick."

The move follows complaints from councillors regarding the shoddy nature of many shopfronts in Limerick city centre.

In a meeting of Limerick City and County Council at the Limerick Institute of Technology Millennium Theatre, Cllr O’Sullivan said "The current city development plan provides for far more protection around our shopfronts and signage than the new draft, and I have brought this amendment to ensure we do not lose focus on our shop fronts and signage. We are currently re-inventing our city centre with the O’Connell Street revitalisation, development at the Opera Site, World Class Waterfront project and whatever the Cleeves site becomes as part of that."

The councillor noted that due to the effects of the pandemic, shops would be closing down with new shops taking their place. "It is more important than ever to provide extensive guidelines for our shopfronts and signage. We are behind the curve on this in comparison to many other local authorities, and for Ireland’s third largest city we need to get ahead of this as soon as possible."