Limerick City and County Council has borrowed €85 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to transform a site in the city centre.

The 1.62-hectare Opera Site will be transformed into one of the country's top urban commercial/office developments, with the capacity for 3,000 jobs.

This is the first EIB finance to be made available for a local authority programme in Ireland since 1993.

Andrew McDowell, Vice President of the European Investment Bank, said: "The European Investment Bank is pleased to support this impressive and ambitious investment that will transform the city of Limerick over the coming years. This will create thousands of new jobs, renovate vacant buildings to provide much needed office space and regenerate historic buildings in Ireland's third city, as well as reducing energy bills for public buildings. As the bank of the European Union, the EIB has a unique track record supporting sustainable urban development across Europe and improving the quality of life and economic opportunities in cities around the world. Following this record new support for urban investment in Ireland we expect to announce co-operation with further local authorities in the coming months."

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The Opera Site will be the largest single project in the Limerick Twenty Thirty programme, a programme launched last year with the establishment of the special purpose vehicle with the aim of delivering over €500m worth of transformational infrastructure across key strategic sites in Limerick.

(CD/LM)