Google accused of ignoring troubled areas of Limerick

Search engine claims areas left out for ‘operational reasons’

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O'Mally Park, Limerick

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They may be one of the few major companies still hiring and driving the flagging Irish economy, but Google has drawn the ire of Limerick residents for excluding vast swathes of the city and its neighborhoods from the new mapping service, Google Street View.

The Limerick Leader pointed out that Street View maps 55,000 kilometres of Irish villages, towns and cities, but that major areas in Limerick – including the Lee Estate, St Mary’s Park, and Assumpta Park, Ballynanty, Moyross – have been omitted by Google. 

Particularly galling to the Leader was the omission of Moyross – home of much gangland violence and social disorder – because Google had managed to photograph the swanky new headquarters of Munster rugby, Thomond Park, but not the troubled Moyross, though it is just a minute away.

Google were quoted as saying certain parts of Limerick were left out of the scheme ‘for operational reasons.’

Local councilors have rejected these claims, with Cllr John Gilligan, who hails from the Lee Estate, Cllr Maurice Quinlivan, who wrote to Google to complain, with Gilligan saying that Google were ‘irresponsible’ to leave out certain parts of the city.

"They are not doing it for operational reasons,” he told the Leader. “They are doing this out of prejudice, based on reports they have of the area.It is entirely irresponsible of them. We cannot have huge areas greyed out. If they do, it will have a knock-on effect. Companies will link into this."

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