RTE Sham - Joe Lynch (RSF)

LIMERICK PRIME TIME A SHAM AND CHARADE

The RTE Prime Time programme on the Regeneration
of troubled areas in Limerick was a sham and a
charade unworthy of investigative journalism a
spokesman for Republican Sinn Fein said today.

Joe Lynch from Beechgrove Avenue in Ballinacurra Weston
the RSF chairman in the southside of Limerick said the
programme was an insult to the people the Regeneration
Boards are supposed to assist.

The fact is the Boards have lost the confidence of the
people of the areas where crime, drug dealing and anti
social behaviour are rife.

I am speaking out as a former member of an advisory
committee to the Board. Because of a lack of concrete
progress I resigned in protest. The Boards are now
more concerned with public relations and media coverage
than in doing the job given to them by the politicians.

The latest abuse of those living in hope of a new future
free from the crime gangs was the Prime Time programme.
Officials from the Board were seen driving through the
Clarina Park area of Ballinacurra Weston. They did not
even get out of their expensive cars to talk to the local
people.
Like some Roman Pro-Consul the Regeneration Board chief
drove through a troubled area but never once stopped
to walk among the ordinary people.

The Prime Time programme however served one useful
purpose...it showed how far removed the Boards have
become from the long suffering people they are
supposed to serve.