Category Archives: Uncategorized

Kieran’s Speech, Cork City Council AGM, 24 June 2011

Cork History, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

 

Laying of the foundation stone of Cork City Hall by Eamonn DeValera, 9 July 1932

 

Salute to Cllr Michael O’Connell

Kieran’s Speech

 

“Give Us a Word”

 

Lord Mayor, I’d like to begin with a quote:

 

“We are in the midst of ruins of various sorts, and it is time that the people-especially people with the capacity of the people of Cork had shown – to look ahead and take stock of the present needs and of the prospects that lie ahead for the people who will make use of them and take proper advantage of them” (so said Eamonn DeValera, then President of the National Executive Council at the luncheon celebrating the laying of the foundation stone of City Hall on the 9 July 1932).

 

Lord Congratulations on a super year, your work on closing the gap between the office of Lord Mayor and the public is admirable. Plus your own work on taking stock of the present needs of the city and pushing the Rebel city forward is great. Your weekly Lord Mayor clinics raised a lot of eyebrows initially but ultimately have been a success. The idea of opening up City Hall to civil marriages raised eyebrows but also turned out very well. The idea of walking in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade raised eyebrows but ultimately was a success

You held your ground and went for the big event – the invite of the Queen – again you were questioned but stuck to your belief that this would be good for the city and many, many Cork people came out to support the idea.

Interestingly enough, the morning when President DeValera arrived at the city hall site to lay the foundation stone of this building in July 1932 he was also greeted by a large gathering of the citizens, who had not only thronged the large space within the hoardings but also outside on the street. Catholic Boy scouts and Civic Garda were under pressure to maintain control over the enthusiastic crowds.

On DeValera’s arrival, he was led onto the city hall site. The foundation stone was suspended from a pulley block and lowered into position, and with the aid of silver trowel, with an ivory handle (now in the Lord Mayor’s Chamber, City Hall), he performed the function of laying the stone on the foundation. Then in a few words in Irish, the President declared the stone laid. The band of the Greenmount Industrial Schools then played the national anthem.

That foundation stone is still there just on the left as you come in the door.

 

As President DeValera was about to walk away from the foundation stone, a voice behind him shouted “Give us a word, Eamonn”. The President under pressure addressed the gathering, said: “All I wish to say is that I hope that with this stone we are laying the foundation for renewed prosperity for your city”. The President subsequently motored to the Victoria Hotel where he was entertained to lunch, with the Lord Mayor Sean French, presiding.

The Lord Mayor at the luncheon welcomed the President and company and referred to the deaths of Lord Mayor’s MacCurtain and McSweeney and the circumstances in which the old city hall was destroyed. He linked the laying of the foundation stone of the new building to both individuals and how they strived to lay moral foundations of unity in the Irish nation.

DeValera in his speech referred to them as comrades in the Irish Republican Army. He was imprisoned with Terence McSweeney so he knew him well and appreciated “his wonderful strength of character he possessed throughout his life”. In coming to lay the foundation stone of the new City Hall in Cork, he hoped that it would be “symbolic of the prosperity and the future glory of the country, to come as a result of the sacrifices, which had been made by the men like those to whom the Lord Mayor had referred to”.

 

DeValera returned four years later for the official opening of the building on the 8 September 1936. Addressing the masses, he noted:

 

“This noble building raised in a spot made sacred in Ireland by the devotion and the sacrifices of the great public men who labored here, cannot fail to be an inspiration to the young people of Cork….

I am sure the people will not shrink from the work that is necessary of the efforts of the past are not to be in vain. The people of this city have clung tenaciously to their nationality with courage and hope even in the darkest hours. Surely that courage and that hope will not sway them now when the dawn is at hand.”

 

And of course, as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of City Hall this September, these are all elements that were re-visited this past Council term as we commemorated the 9oth anniversary of the Terence McSwiney and Tomas McCurtain plus tangled with Ireland’s relationship with Britain and the place of our nationhood.

 

DeValera continued and referred to the future prospects for Ireland:

The world needs the efforts of the Irish people who had already done wonderful work; and have reached high ideals in positions throughout the world. The Irish people today have a wonderful chance for a great spiritual leadership in a world which needs restoration from the ruin of social order to which it had fallen.

 If only they could push these efforts in the right way there was a big chance for the Irish people to set a great example to the rest of the world. The Irish people have a wonderful chance to experiment in bringing about the right social order in a world where it had fallen to pieces”.

Perhaps in inviting the Queen Elizabeth II, Lord Mayor have set an example to the rest of the world and given the people of Cork a wonderful chance to experiment in bringing around the right order and restoration of a world in pieces. Unity of purpose, initiative, innovation, imagination, thinking outside of the box were all traits you brought to bear on your term as Lord Mayor and ultimately these and other traits will keep Cork at the cutting edge of where Ireland needs to go.

O course Lord Mayor you also had your “Give us a word moment”. I was impressed that anywhere you went in the city, you were either born there, raised there, worked there, dated there, played darts there, drank there or generally hung out around there…. and brought those memories out through your speech rooting your sense of place and those you addressed!

I would also like to congratulate the Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr Denis O’Flynn. My abiding memory of my colleague during his year was at the Lifetime Lab when two minutes before an event promoting walking to school…the organizer came to Cllr O’Flynn and said “Give us a word Denis”. Cllr O’Flynn turned away commenting what will I say…two minutes later, Cllr O’Flynn stood up to talk on one of his Mastermind Council topics, roads and transport. He finished the sermon twenty minutes later. Thanks for your energy and enthusiasm all year.

And to conclude, when the Lord Mayor, Sean French arose to address the members present at the celebratory luncheon on the 8 September 1936, he asked what can a Corkman say of Cork? He noted:

“ Perhaps I can rely on the words of D.L. Kelleher;[Cork people are] explosively enthusiastic, cynically indifferent, vowing, forgetting, ribald and reverent by turns, its pageant passes, saints and smart boys, heroes and gladiators, Samaritans and snobs, all in the history of Cork, within the spreading Lee – a city that, however condemned, however much dissented, must for its surpassing beauty of hill and river, return to favour like a lovely, evasive compelling woman in the end.”

Thank you

 

Architectural drawing of Cork City Hall, 1932

Cork City Hall under construction, c.1934

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, Kieran’s New Publication, Munster Agricultural Society, The Story of the Cork Showgrounds, 23 June 2011

Cork History, Uncategorized, Ward Events

 596a. Front cover of the new book "Munster Agricultural Society, The Story of the Cork Showgrounds" by Kieran McCarthy

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 23 June 2011

 

New Publication

 Munster Agricultural Society, The Story of the Cork Showgrounds

 

My new book, which was commissioned by the Munster Agricultural Society, explores the history of the Society and the evolution of the former Cork Showgrounds. With roots in the early nineteenth century, the Society has had a long history, being founded in 1806 under the name County of Cork Farming Society, changing to County of Cork Agricultural Society sometime in the 1830s and evolving in 1908 to its current name.

I remember the summer of 2007 sitting in the stands of the Cork Showgrounds and watching my friends show jumping. It was then that I was also struck by the architecture of the old timber, its style and texture; it had that eerie nostalgic feel that it was there for over one 100 years. In the ensuing months, I was given the opportunity to see the old 1920s photographs of the Cork Show. There, before my eyes, was the same stand but, unlike the current pictures with was filled with people. The picture grasped my imagination and pulled me into the story – a scene frozen in time of the crowds in the summer show, the capturing of a large scale public event – that celebration of life. Taken in the late 1920s, the photo captured fashions from a transitional time in Ireland’s development, circa eight years afer the Irish Civil War.

In 2008, the Munster Agricultural Society invited me to write this book. So began a long journey of discovery, which led me through the minutes of the Society finding out more about the context of my 80-year-old picture and also discovering the origins of the society and its contribution and continuing contribution to Cork’s way of life.

I also spent many days coming to grips with the showgrounds – walking around it, photographing it, exploring its architecture, its forms and textures and becoming familiar with the myriads of buildings and halls. As my familiarity of the place increased and through reading the minute books, my walkabouts became more meaningful. I began to think much more about the site. I loved looking at the ornate timber roofing, broken windows and the chestnut tree outside the secretary’s office that changed as the seasons changed from autumn to winter.  Gradually, I discovered how much of the legacy of the Agricultural Society had been forgotten. Many of the figures, faces, settings and actions had not been revisited and illuminated in many decades.

In November 2008, I was fortunate to attend the last horse auction at the Shogrounds. There was a crowd sitting on benches in the Lee Hall. As with any auction, there was that air of expectation as owners vied to sell their animals. Horses were prepared in an adjacent hall. Grooming was completed and the leaders of the animals were instructed on what to do. People looked on, watching, ticking off the animals they had seen on the auction lists. Young and old were present. There was that air of inheritance. The father and son element was present. The auction like many that had gone before it was a learning curve; it was an art. The light filtered through the Lee Hall illuminating the action. The auctioneer spoke in a rapid-fire manner. All the actors looked on. There was an air of nostalgia as Gerard Murphy, Chairman, noted that the event was the last sale at the site. As the afternoon progressed, each horse represented for me a count-down of this important site. The exit sign took on new meaning as each horse left. There is a power in nostalgia.

The Munster Agricultural Society has evolved as the needs of its members changed over time to incorporate what they saw as relevant to the contemporary and future of agriculture in Ireland. Each successful season is immortalised in the society’s minute books, and on the society’s perpetual trophies. Some of the aspects mentioned in this book are familiar to all us Corkonians like the annual summer shows.

What one can say is that the Munster Agricultural Society has been a pioneer in attaining improvements in Irish agriculture and in agricultural education. Many of its activities were taken over later by the State and by the universities, all of which we are now inclined to take for granted. Early records of its activities are not preserved. From those at our disposal, it would appear that in addition to promoting annual exhibitions of live stock, they interested themselves in the general education of the rural community and especially of the younger generation. The society has contributed to technological change, broader cultural change and new areas of knowledge. But this book, through the story and pictures, is about so much more. It is about tradition, nostalgia, pride, change and continuity, promotion, inspiration, leadership, education, motivation and unfailing generosity on the part of the members of all the committees who worked tirelessly through time. This book, at its heart, is an exploration and celebration of all those ideas.

The book Munster Agricultural Society, The Story of the Cork Showgrounds is on sale in Liam Ruiseal’s on Oliver Plunkett Street or at the offices of the Society in the Marina Commercial Park, 021 4315772.

 

Captions:

596a. Front cover of new book, Munster Agricultural Society, The Story of the Cork Showgrounds

596b. Cork Showgrounds, 1929 (picture: Munster Agricultural Society Archives)

 596b. Cork Showgrounds, c.1929

Family Fun Night, Bonfire Night, Mahon, 23 June 2011

Cork City Events, Improve Your Life, Uncategorized, Ward Events

A great family fun night was held last night (Thursday, 23 June) in Loughmahon Park;  a total of 1,300 were counted coming through the gates of the park. The entertainment was provided by Cork City Council. As part of the night there were performances by Dowcha Puppets, Gaeilscoil Mhachan, Mahon Youth Project Boxing Display and a band from Ballyphehane.  A great round of applause must to Declan Cassidy and Garda Sean Murphy, the Mahon community Garda for all their hard work, energy and enthusiasm.

 Family fun night, Bonfire night, Mahon, 23 June 2011

Family fun night, Bonfire Night, Mahon, 23 June 2011

Family fun night, Bonfire night, Mahon, Cork, 23 June 2011

Family fun night, Bonfire night, Mahon, Cork, 23 June 2011

Family fun night, Bonfire night, Mahon, Cork, 23 June 2011

Family fun night, Bonfire night, Mahon, Cork, 23 June 2011

Family fun night, Bonfire night, Mahon, Cork, 23 June 2011

Family fun night, Bonfire night, Mahon, Cork, 23 June 2011

Family fun night, Bonfire night, Mahon, Cork, 23 June 2011

Family fun night, Bonfire night, Mahon, Cork, 23 June 2011

Family fun night, Bonfire night, Mahon, Cork, 23 June 2011

Family fun night, Bonfire night, Mahon, Cork, 23 June 2011

Family fun night, Bonfire night, Mahon, Cork, 23 June 2011

Family fun night, Bonfire night, Mahon, Cork, 23 June 2011

Family fun night, Bonfire night, Mahon, Cork, 23 June 2011

Family fun night, Bonfire night, Mahon, Cork, 23 June 2011

Family fun night, Bonfire night, Mahon, Cork, 23 June 2011

WOT! Anti-Drink Driving Campaign Mahon, June 2011

Enterprise, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized, Ward Events

A very well done to all the girls involved in the WOT project in Mahon who created a don’t drink and drive campaign through beer mats. They gave talks in local schools to raise awareness of drinking and driving and also designed special beer mats highlighting the dangers of the latter. The beer mats are now in Lakelands Pub and the Red Cove Inn on Avenue De Rennes. I was delighted to offer my support to this valuable initiative through my ward funds.

 WOT Group with damaged car from drink driving, Cllr Kieran McCarthy on left

WOT Beer Mat

WOT Beer mat

WOT! Beer Mat, June 2011

Family Fun Nights, This Evening! 23 June 2011

Cork City Events, Improve Your Life, Uncategorized, Ward Events

From Cork City Council Website:

“Cork City Council is organising a number of family friendly events for Bonfire Night thoughout the city and would like to provide advice to the public on safety procedures to follow.

 Family Friendly events which will include facepainting, bouncy castles, music and entertainment, sport events etc will take place in the following locations

Location                                                                     Time

Kilmore Park, Knocknaheeny                                     5.00pm to 8.00pm

Pophams Park,Farranree                                            4.00pm to 7.00pm

Loughmahon Park,Mahon                                           6.00pm to 9.00pm

Clashduv Park,Togher                                                 5.30pm to 9.30pm

Glenamoy Park,Mayfield                                             5.00pm to 8.00pm

In an effort to reduce the negative impact of some bonfires on the night, the Councils Fire Department asks people to note the following:

  • We would ask people to be careful where they site bonfires.
  • Avoid placing them too close to residential or commercial property.
  • Do not build fires on roadways or walkways.
  • Be aware of overhead power lines and telephone lines.
  • Bonfires should be sited on open ground and should be supervised by adults.
  • Fires should be kept small and controlled.
  • Tyres or other materials which would produce large volumes of smoke and noxious fumes should not be burned (foam filled furniture, paint tins, aerosols etc).

 Many bonfires will be well organised and supervised and will be enjoyed by those attending them, however the Fire Service will have to extinguish a number of fires because

  • Fires may have been sited in the wrong location
  • Fires may get out of control

We would ask for the cooperation of the public in ensuring that Bonfire Night is incident free and that everyone will remain safe and enjoy themselves. The City Council would also ask that businesses and householders would not give waste to callers.

Finally we would appeal to parents to know where their children are at all times and ensure they are not in danger.”

 Douglas Road, Cork

Shandon Street Festival, Cork, 18 June 2011

Cork City Events, Improve Your Life, Uncategorized

The Shandon Street Festival, now in its fifth year, ran last Saturday, 18 June, in the Shandon area. It was a fantastic afternoon of fun and civic pride. The organisers are very passionate about this annual event and the renewal of the area. Great to a number of forces joining up, for example Cork Community Art Link and the organising committee, to bring people out and have a good time. There is a great sense of pride and ownership of this festival by all involved. I really liked the way those traits wove their way into the various events planned during the day. Keep up the great work.  Cork needs more people like your goodselves.

Shandon Street Festival, Cork, 18 June 2011

Shandon Street Festival, Cork, 18 June 2011

Shandon Street Festival, Cork, 18 June 2011

Shandon Street Festival, Cork, 18 June 2011

Shandon Street Festival, Cork, 18 June 2011

 

Shandon Street Festival, Cork, 18 June 2011

Shandon Street Festival, Cork from the top of St. Anne's Church, Shandon, 18 June 2011

Shandon Street Festival, Cork from the top of St. Anne's Church, Shandon, plus Cork's north western suburbs, 18 June 2011

Shandon Street Festival, Cork, 18 June 2011

Shandon Street Festival, Cork, 18 June 2011

Shandon Street Festival, Cork, 18 June 2011

Shandon Street Festival, Cork, 18 June 2011

Deputy Lord Mayor – Launch of the Munster Chapter of the Ireland India Council (IIC), Cork Institute of Technology, 15 June 2011

Enterprise, Kieran's Council Work, National, Uncategorized

Launch of the Munster Chapter of the Ireland India Council (IIC) on Cork Institute of Technology, Bishopstown Campus

 

Kieran’s Speech

 

On behalf of the Lord Mayor, many thanks for the invitation here this evening.

 

As a geographer by trade, I study Cork as my living, what makes its tick, what gives it a sense of place. I’m always intrigued by the idea that Cork is a place of coming and going. As a port in Western Europe, the essence of Cork has inspired many entrepreneurs and artisan families to settle in the region through the ages.

 

Some peoples’ stories began in Cork; others brought their talents and ambition abroad and never returned to their native city whilst others from abroad spent their entire life in the rebel city. So the concept of social inclusion for individuals and families not born of Cork should not be a new factor.

 

However, the struggle to fit in has always been a factor, much written about and debated. But it’s not just the migrant who has found himself or herself working hard to fit in, it is also the Cork citizens who are also searching to find a niche to carve for himself or herself. However, perhaps this case cannot just be applied to Cork but also to every settlement in the world where new groups arrive to add to the settlementscape mix.

As someone who gives talks and walks on Cork’s past to the wider Cork Community and someone who teaches in Cork schools the value of history to students, I am very conscious of the importance of identity to people in forging a sense of belonging and a feeling of fitting in, being wanted, being respected, being trusted, being cared for.

 

Co-production and Core Values:

In the United States in recent years, advocates of the Social Inclusion agenda have harnessed ideas of Co-production as Core Values. These own values have also formed part of my own work over the last few years.

Firstly, I firmly believe that every human being has something to give and can be a builder or a contributor

Secondly that core individuality values also include whatever it takes to raise healthy children, support families, make neighbourhoods safe and vibrant, care for frail and vulnerable people, redress justice, and make democracy work.

 

Thirdly  social networks are important to all of us. All of us require a social infrastucture. These social networks require ongoing investment of social capital generated by trust, reciprocity and civic engagement.

 

Fourthly, I embrace the idea of reciprocity; The impulse to give something back to society.  That wherever possible, we must replace one way with two-way transactions, both between individuals and between people and institutions. That there must be a sort of exchange.

 

Challenges:

 

During the boom times in Ireland, net inward immigration is estimated to have accounted for 80% of the demographic increase with the number of immigrants living in Ireland rising from 220,000 to 400,000. Non-nationals in 2007 comprised some 8% of the workforce – one of the highest in the EU.

 

Attempts have been made by our government and City Council to make sure that certain social inclusion did take place. It was successful at some levels through social partnership agreements which sought integration and embracement of cultural diversity. However, perhaps for the Irish citizen the advent of new citizens came very quickly, the migrant wove their way into a conservative Ireland putting a spotlight on social inclusion for migrants more than ever before.

 

 

The Ireland-India Council is a very progressive establishment. It visualises greater economic, educational, scientific, cultural and tourism opportunities between Ireland and India. Council explore new areas by supporting to develop communication, dialogue, mutual trust, leadership and improved understanding between leaders in business, education and government in Ireland and India.

 

The Council recognises that there are 30,000 Indians in Ireland (figure from Indian embassy)

 

  • Indians in the Munster regions are widely spread in employment in a number of professions and industries like doctors, surgeons, nursing staff, IT professionals, engineers in the automation and pharmaceutical industries, as well as business people.

 

  • And there is a need to build a greater understanding and appreciation of Ireland’s and Indian culture. 

 

I admire what the Council has tried to achieve with regard to inclusion.

 

With the aims of this launch in mind, I would like to offer a few notes. Recent studies in the Ireland and UK argue a number of key messages with regard to inclusion:

1.                  No challenge to exclusion can succeed without a co-productive and partnership approach, working with excluded people is essential at every level of development and delivery.

 

2.                  Inclusion is about wider participation. All people have a right to access those social, economic, educational, recreational and cultural opportunities, and physical health services, that most citizens take for granted. It is also about participation in the community, as employees, employers, students, volunteers, teachers, carers, parents, advisors, residents; as active citizens.

 

3.                  We need to work across traditional boundaries. Reducing barriers to inclusion requires integrated effort across government and non-government agencies at all levels, horizontally and vertically, influencing policy and practice through direct links to individual experience.

 

4.                  A sense of personal identity supports recovery and inclusion. People are more than just a category or a diagnosis and have valuable contributions to make, not just needs to be met. Services should support people to access the opportunities available within the many communities to which they belong and to make valued contributions as active citizens.

 

So in essence I feel we need to focus on developing effective multidimensional social inclusion strategies focused on addressing the multidimensional nature of inclusion.

 

 

So overall there is much to reflect on and much to do – They are just a couple of questions perhaps think about as the ball is set rolling. Thanks again for the invitation. I am honoured to be at this event.

 

Cllr Kieran McCarthy speaking at the launch of the Munster Chapter of the Ireland-India Council, CIT, 15 June 2011

 

Group, launch of Munster Chapter of Ireland-India Council, 15 June 2011

Crowd, launch of Munster Chapter, Ireland-India Council, CIT, 15 June 2011

Raising of the Green Flag at Scoil Ursula, Blackrock, 14 June 2011

Cork City Events, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized, Ward Events

I was delighted last Tuesday (14 June 2011) to be invited to raise the first Green Flag at Scoil Ursula, Blackrock.

Kieran’s Speech

I like the idea of standing up for something. The work you have done is about standing up for something and believing in something.

I was trying to think about what to say about the environment to you but you have been part and parcel of improving the environment of the school for the last two years…so ye know alot about the importance of it.

I would like to share some items with you. When you look at the word environment, how many letters are in it (11)….Ok so I would like to challenge you one more time before we raise your green flag…..So there are11 letters in the word environment, so let’s break it down and see if you can come words for each of those letters

So E is the start of the word environment, so apart from environment what might E stand for

E – Everyone – work you’ve done is great

N – Noticing where we can improve things – multiple reviews

V – Value of the environment – how we can appreciate its value and how it adds to our lives

I – ideas for the future

R – real change, in reducing, re-using and recycling

O – onus on us

N – Near – in front of us

M – motivation

E – Engine in your community for change

N – nurturing a way forward

T – Technology – wind turbines, traffic

The Green Flag is an absolutely fantastic achievement.

·         I see there are very positive spin-offs especially with the 30 page document you gave me.

 

·         Your school is cleaner and almost litter free.  Children are taking the responsibility for keeping the school litter free. They are no longer allowed to bring lunch into the yard and children are responsible for picking up the litter after second break.

 

·         We are recycling more and creating less waste.  Children have taken on the responsibility of sorting the recycling into the appropriate bags: paper, cardboard and plastic.  They also monitor all the bins in the school to make sure that the recycling bins are not contaminated with unrecyclable materials.  They also ensure that no food waste (which can be fed to the birds) or recyclable materials enter the refuse bin.

 

·         There has been a reduction in the paper bill.  Teachers are now recycling on both sides of paper and are using scrap paper for art and for writing casual notes.

 

·         Parents have reported back that children are educating their families about recycling and insisting that recycling takes place at home.

 

Very well done and thanks to the Green-Schools committee members: Simona Jansonite, Clodagh O’Riordan, Simon Hurley, Erica Hyde, Ashling Joyce, Robert Walsh, Dylan McCarthy, Kelly Walsh, David Bamidele, Leah Aston, Iris Efe Aghedo, Conor McNamara and Louise O’Mullane: Co-ordinator. (Teacher)

Thank all the various classes and teachers, parents plus thank your principal.

 

Cllr Kieran McCarthy with students and teachers at the raising of the Green Flag at Scoil Ursula, Blackrock, 14 June 2011

 Scoil Ursula Green Flag material

Scoil Ursula, Green Flag material

Scoil Ursula School Garden

Scoil Ursula School Garden

Scoil Ursula School Garden

Scoil Ursula Green Flag Material

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 16 June 2011

Cork History, Uncategorized

595a. Mr Jim Farley setting the machinery in motion at the Cork Coca Cola Factory, Carrigrohane Straight Road, 9 May 1952

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article

Cork Independent, 16 June 2011

 

In the Footsteps of St. Finbarre (Part 260)

Coca Cola Comes to Cork, 1952

 

“Mr James A. Farley, Chairman of the American Coco Cola Export Corporation and former Postmaster General of the United States was among the passengers who disembarked from the liner America at Cobh. Mr. Farley will attend the opening today of the new Coca Cola factory at Cork by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Government, Mr. J. Lynch [deputising for Sean Lemass, Minister for Industry and Commerce]. …then he will travel to Dublin, where he will meet the Taoiseach and Mr. MacEntee. He will visit Belfast before leaving Ireland for a European tour (journalist, Irish Independent, 9 May 1952, p.3)”.

The region of the Carrigrohane Straight Road has many stories of Cork’s place in twentieth century Ireland and in the world.  The opening of the Coco Cola bottling in Cork adjacent the road on the 9 May 1952 was a success story for the Irish government who sought out such companies. It was also a success for the directors of the Munster Bottlers Limited that had only been founded 11 months previously to the opening. Company chairman Mr. P. Fitzgerald from Rushbrooke greeted the guests at the opening.

With a legacy going back 125 years, the beverage Coco Cola was invented in 1886 in Atlanta, USA and quickly blossomed into one of America’s most important exports abroad.  In 1900 there were two bottlers of Coca Cola; by 1920, there were about 1,000. In 1941, when America entered World War II, thousands of men and women were sent overseas. Coca Cola rallied behind them when its CompanyPresident Robert Woodruff ordered that every “man in uniform get a bottle of Coca Cola from five cents wherever he is and whatever it costs the company”. In 1943, General Dwight Eisenhower sent an urgent cablegram to Coca-Cola, requesting shipment of materials for 10 bottling plants. During the war, many people tasted their first Coca Cola, which laid the foundations for Coca-Cola to do business overseas. Hence by the mid 1940s until 1960, the number of countries with bottling operations nearly doubled. Post war America was deemed alive with optimism and prosperity. Coca-Cola was part of a fun carefree American lifestyle.  Ireland was part of the expansion of the bottling works. The case of the country was also strengthened by Jim Farley, Chairman of Coca Cola.

In an article in the Irish Press in September 1968 it outlined that his Jim Farley’s grandfather came from Co. Meath. Jim was described a “legend in U.S. Politics” and was a former member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s cabinet. Farley started in public life as town clerk of an up-state New York town and from there became chairman of the Democratic Party National Committee. He helped start the Roosevelt campaign in 1932 and managed his presidential campaign, after which Farley became Roosevelt’s first Postmaster General.  He had been associated with the Coca Cola company since 1940.

At the Cork plant, all the necessary commodities that went into the manufacture of the drink were native products with the sole exception of the concentrated syrup, which was imported from England. The Coca Cola Export Corporation was the largest single consumer of sugar in the world. The creation of bottles, crates and the use of vehicles created business for local industries. In addition, starting off the Cork Plant had a dozen staff.

The Cork Examiner on the day of the opening (9 May 1952) carried a feature on the workings of the plant: “The factory itself is very modern and it was designed by Mr. H. Fitzgerald-Smith to conform with the high standards required by up-to-date bottling factories. A single storey building…in the factory proper there are large windows, which will allow the maximum of light necessary for the work on complicated machines….At the eastern end there is an overhead syrup room. From which the main ingredients flows to the factory below to be processed.”

In view of the fact that the Coca-Cola Company insisted on one quality of water it was found necessary to install a water treating plant. Another unique feature was a washing machine, which was capable of washing and treating 30 bottles per minute. The regulations of the Coca-Cola Company required that every bottle had to be thoroughly sterilised before it is passed for use. Temperature, too, had to be kept at a certain degree, and in this connection a special refrigeration plant was in operation. The bottling machine was described as a “mechanical marvel, which performs several operations. As the bottles pass along a conveyer they are filled, crowned and then go through a very minute inspection before being finally adjudged as suitable for dispatch to the retailer.”

The firm had a special department for training salesmen and these men when trained were to act as driver salesmen throughout the Munster counties. The crown corks were made in Cobh. The bottles were supplied from Dublin as well as wooden containers. A fleet of ford trucks were used. The factory was erected by Daniel T. O’Connor and Sons. By 1963, there were four bottling plants in Ireland of Coca Cola and these were part of a wider family 650 bottling plants in 118 countries.

To be continued…

Captions:

595a. Mr. Jim Farley setting the machinery in motion at the Cork Coca Cola factory, 9 May 1952; Left are the Mayor of Waterford Ald. T. Lynch and the Lord Mayor of Cork, Ald. W. Furlong (picture: Irish Independent)

595b. Former Munster Bottlers Plant, Carrigrohane Straight Road, June 2011

 595b. Former Munster Bottlers plant, Carrigrohane Straight Road, June 2011