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Limerick, Ireland

Limerick is a city in Ireland. It is located in the Mid-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. Limerick City Council is the local authority for the city. The city is built on several curves and islands of the River Shannon, which spreads into an estuary shortly downriver from Limerick. It is the third most populous city in the state and the fifth most populous on the island of Ireland. It was the first city to receive the designation of City of Culture.

With a population of 57,106 not including suburbs, Limerick is the fourth most populous city in the State and the 30th most populous area of local government. Limerick is one of the constituent cities of the Cork-Limerick-Galway corridor which has a population of 1 million people. It is located at a strategic position on the River Shannon with four main crossing points near the city centre. To the south of the city is the Golden Vale, an area of rich pastureland. Historically, much of the city's industry was based on this rich agricultural hinterland and it is particularly noted for Limerick Ham.

The Learning Limerick Steering Group is a partnership forum that brings together sectoral networks and partnerships, and is committed to creating a culture of learning in Limerick. It is made up of statutory, local development, business, and community & voluntary sector partners that have a role in Learning in Limerick.

The original Limerick City of Learning Steering Group was established as a sub-committee of the Limerick City Development Board in 2002. A key goal of the Board’s Strategy for the City was that Limerick would become a City of Learning – a city full of opportunities.  

The group’s first strategy document ‘Together for a Brighter Future - Collaborative Framework for Progress’ (2008) highlighted 4 pillars for the Strategy for Learning for Limerick: 

1. Creating a spark for learning, 
2. Giving children and young people the best start in life, 
3. Fostering a thriving and inclusive city, 
4. Promoting quality learning environments

In late 2010, the membership of the group was reconstituted around key sectoral networks and fora in Limerick. There has been a part-time facilitator employed since this time, with funding from the Limerick Regeneration Agency. This has enabled the group to hold an annual Limerick Lifelong Learning Festival since 2011.

The expansion of its membership in 2013 to include both City and County partners resulted in the name of the group being rebranded to: ‘Learning Limerick’. Government reform which included the amalgamation of Limerick City and County Councils has been a key factor in driving the development for Learning Limerick.

The aims of the now expanded Learning Limerick (encompassing City and County) group were agreed at a number of planning sessions in 2014: 

1. To promote the value of learning in Limerick, across all stages of the life cycle.
2. To share information that enhances members and partners organisational learning.
3. To support the range of sectoral networks and groups in their efforts to engage people in positive learning experiences.

At the 13^th PASCAL conference in Glasgow in 2016, Limerick showcased its work focusing on 3 strands of Learning Limerick’s work activity, each of which illustrates the connections that are highlighted in the group’s Conference paper, details of which are found at this link:

1. Building a Limerick Learning Region
2. Limerick Lifelong Learning Festival
3. Promotion of Learning in Limerick Region

Limerick received the Learning City Award given out by UNESCO in 2017 and is building on its image with the Learning Limerick Strategic Plan 2018 - 2022 (Helping to Grow Limerick as a Learning Region). In addition, Learning Limerick continues to organise the yearly Limerick Lifelong Learning Festival which will turn 10 in 2020

Limerick launched in 2019 a new website dedicated to lifelong learners. It provides information on the availability of courses and learning opportunities in the area of Limerick. LearningLimerick.ie seeks to reinforce the digital presence of the Irish city while promoting the presence of Learning Limerick, which is seen as a strategic priority and has the objective to integrate the latter with the Limerick City and County Council’s Digital Strategy.

At its launch, Deputy Mayor of the City and County of Limerick, Cllr Adam Teskey confirmed that the website will have an important role for the promotion of the city as a Learning City-Region which goes beyond national borders. It is also essential for promoting the cooperation with UNESCO and the members of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities as it also enables the city to share the knowledge acquired over the years.

Eimear Brophy, Chairperson of Learning Limerick, for his part was convinced that the portal will enable citizens to adapt to the societal changes and help Learning Limerick to reach its communication goals. Among them - to show that learning is already taking place in communities and colleges, but also at the workplace and is in accordance with other regional and national policies in place. The website facilitates collaboration between all parties concerned with improving the access to lifelong learning.