The Mahon Community Mini Bus was officially launched last Saturday, 11 December 2010 outside the Mahon Community Development Project. It is funded under Rapid/ dormant accounts funding. It is a bus for groups and organisations in the Mahon area. The bus is for community activities and will be used by groups to enhance their own project work and the development of their work. More information can be got from the Mahon Community Development Project. Well done to all involved!
Ballinlough Christmas Soiree
Continuing their efforts to engage and present practical ideas in getting the community together and out and about and ultimately trying to cheer people up, Ballinlough Youth Clubs are presenting a Christmas evening of entertainment. The stars include Soprano Mary Hegarty accompanied by Eleanor Malone, soryteller Diarmaid O’ Drisceoil, Ballinlough Youth Club Choir and ol’ time favourite songs played by “Memory Lane”. The venue for this Christmas cheer is Ballinlough Community Centre on 12 December at 7.00pm. Refreshments will be served. Admission €5. Tickets are available from: O’ Driscolls Superstore, Ballinlough Credit Union, Patsy’s Hair Salon, Canon Horgan Youth Centre (Friday nights 6.15-7.15pm). For further information contact Lisa on 085 7178439 or email them at ballinloughyouthclubs@gmail.com. Visit them on facebook @ Ballinlough Youth Club Events.
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town,
Cork Independent, 9 December 2010
A Sense of Free State Ireland
If anything the Irish Agricultural and Industrial Fair on the Straight Road, Cork in 1932 was an enormous concerted effort by the Cork business class to do something positive in light of a worldwide depression – to promote Cork, the idea of an Irish product and to promote what Ireland had to offer. A walk through the various exhibit halls using the Fair catalogue, a copy of which survives in the Cork Museum, is a worthwhile exercise to get a sense of what the visitor was shown. Extra information below on each industry is provided from the multiple books on industrial development in Cork that exist also in Cork City Library.
In the second main exhibit area known as the Industrial Hall, the first stand the audience met was that of the Irish Tourist Association. This body was established in 1925 to market the young Irish Free State as a tourist destination internationally. It also aimed to organise the hotel and transport industry and to standardise and regulate charges. The head office was on O’Connell Street in Dublin with their Cork Office at New York House at 12 Patrick Street. They also had a London office in Piccadilly. Their exhibit at the Cork fair showed all the publications of the Association and their photographic displays.
Little seems to be publicly recorded of the impact of the Irish Tourist Association. In the early 1940s, the Association carried out an impressive topographical and general survey on a parish by parish basis within each county. In an effort to gather information to promote Irish tourism post World War II, surveyors were appointed and information was gathered by visits to each parish. Photographs were taken of numerous sites and the filling in of forms/ fieldnote sheets were pursued. Five different forms were issued to the surveyors. Not all were relevant to each parish. Forms covered natural features, sports and games, holiday seaside resort amenities and general information, town or village amenities and general information and town or village accommodation and catering. A copy of the County Cork survey is in the Cork County Library. In 1939, Bord Cuartaoíchta na hEireann was established by an Act of Dáil Éireann. This organisation took over from the Irish Tourist Association eventually with statutory powers to register and grade hotels. The Bord was the forerunner of Bord Fáilte. In 1955 Bord Fáilte Éireann was created under the Tourist Traffic Act, to develop and promote tourism in the Republic of Ireland.
Stands number three to five in the Industrial Hall was held by the Great Southern Railways Company. They had a general display of models of transportation routes and tourist information. Provision for the creation of the company was made by the Railways Act 1924, which mandated the amalgamation of four major railway companies and the absorption of 22 smaller railway companies, all which were within the Irish Free State. From 1929, the Great Southern Railways Company also ran bus services when it acquired a stake in the Irish Omnibus Company. Under the Transport Act 1944, Córas Iompair Éireann was formed as a private company and incorporated the Great Southern Railways Company and Dublin United Transport Company.
Cork Harbour Commissioners presented a contour map of the port of Cork showing Cork Harbour and the River Lee from Power Head to St. Patrick’s Bridge to the scale of one foot to one mile. The map was designed and completed by John Power, Second Master of the Cork School of Art. In 1930 the Port extended its services from the City to Tivoli, which was a milestone development. The Cork School of Art exhibited a relief map of the City of Cork showing all heights and streets correct to scale. The model was executed by Mr. C. Huston, a modelling master in the School of Art, Cork at the request of the Executive Fair Committee.
Stands number 14-20 was a health section that was organised by Dr. John C. Saunders, the Medical Officer of Health for Cork in association with the Central Council for Health Education, London. The provision of health services in the early years of the Irish Free State was primarily provided by city and county hospitals. In the early 1930s, there were also some developments aimed at improving general public health such as the provision of free milk to children and pregnant women. In Cork, a tuberculosis clinic was held at 18, Parnell Place whilst a child welfare service was provided at Tuckey Street. The School Medical Service had routine inspections of all school children in the city. The bringing in by Dr. Saunders of the following Health Associations from London was probably strategic and important to draw focus on what he thought should be provided or improved in the then national health system. Present at the Cork fair were the Health & Cleanliness Council, London, Institute of Hygiene, London, National Milk Recovery Publicity, Dental Board of United Kingdom, National Council for Maternity and Child Welfare, Fruit Trades Federation, Model Abattoir Society and General Council for Health Education. In the broader scheme of government history, it was only in 1947 that the Department of Health was established.
To be continued…
Captions:
569a. Map of Fair Grounds, Straight Road, 1932, now occupied more or less by the playing pitches opposite the Lee Fields walk (sketches: Cork Museum)
569b. Sketch of Halls of Industry & Commerce
Kieran’s Comments to the Chamber, Cork City Council Meeting, 6 December 2010
On Cork City’s tourism strategies:
“I would like to thank Hilary Creedon and her team at Fáilte Ireland on the Grand Parade for the development of the I-walk packages listed in the report. I was there at the launch in August and it’s great to see such initiatives being developed. I know as well she is open to other trails being produced and because the technology is now in place, more thematic trails for Iphone products will be developed.
However despite the fact that we invest the bones of E.650,000 in tourism promotion, I still think we are underselling ourselves. What is becoming more apparent on the ground is that the few individuals running the tourism side in Cork are just about coping with administrative duties and a few projects that seem not to have the enormous impact they should have. Then we have various festival groups who don’t seem to have access in promoting themselves on a regional and national level. There seems to be an enormous need to strengthen the number of people creating joined up tourism strategies for the city.
I’m not overly happy with how we harnessed the Lonely Planet accolade this year. I would like to know early next year, what effect it did have on our city’s economy. I’m still not happy with the gateway points in the city – and how they don’t give information on the city. At the airport at a number of times during the summer, I noticed the cellotaped Lonely Planet Accolade sign in the baggage reclaim hall, which is now taken down. We create and invest in 100 days of festivals in the city per annum and that’s the best we can muster in our airport is a cellotaped banner on a pillar.We are underselling ourselves.”
I see that Belfast the third city in Ireland has stepped up its game and has put posters up on some of the city’s hoardings. I hope for the sake of our tourism market that we have posters up in their city. Great to see how Belfast people are competitive in their tourism market – great to see their ambition and determination to not only get people there but to channel them through their shopping and cultural districts. If we are the second city and they are the third, what is our response going to be or maybe Cork is interested in being the third city?”
Kieran’s Comments to the Chamber, Cork City Council Meeting, 6 December 2010
On dereliction in Blackpool:
“This dereliction report on Blackpool shows 50 sites that have been identified as derelict and unsightly. It’s an absolute disgrace that some 50 owners have left their buildings in such a state. I have no problem with someone who genuinely can’t develop their premises for financial reasons and who board up their building accordingly. But I have a huge problem with landowners with no sense of civic responsibility and who create rotting concrete wildernesses. Shame on them for bringing the great name of Blackpool down.”
Kieran’s Comments to the Chamber, Cork City Council Meeting, 6 December 2010, On the Beamish and Crawford site:
“We have a beautiful heritage stock. Here is a building, which was one of the engines of export trade at one time Cork, in western Europe. This building was one of the drivers in Ireland’s economy – a place of business, enterprise and creativity. There is a general feeling that in our time we are finding it difficult to harness those energies its memory, history, its cultural value, its very identity. I’m disappointed. As a city we seem to not to be able creative enough to bring 1,000s of tourists to this amazing historic quarter, who would all could add and stimulate the local economy. I am continuing my call for the protection and enhancement of this cultural heritage quarter. I am asking the planning department to continue to work closely with the owners of this site.”
Kieran’s Comments to the Chamber, Cork City Council Meeting, 6 December 2010
On the quarterly Cork Economic Monitor:
“27,000 unemployed, over 120 vacant premises in the city centre, a decrease in tourism – there seems to no sign of any revised regional plan or emergency plan to deal with the crisis. We need to respond to the crisis. There is a need to reassess our way forward. There is a need for new ideas to come forward. The City needs to be more pro-active than ever before in terms of its regional development. We need to step up our attack on encouraging enterprise and encouraging ideas to bring the city forward economically and socially.”
Kieran’s Comments to the Chamber, Cork City Council Meeting, 6 December 2010
On homelessness:
“I’m worried by the growing young men who are homeless on our streets. The City Council invests large sums of money to organisations who provide beds for people who find themselves homeless. I would like to say to these young people, avail of these beds especially on these freezing nights.”
Ballinlough Christmas Soiree
Continuing their efforts to engage and present practical ideas in getting the community together and out and about and ultimately trying to cheer people up, Ballinlough Youth Clubs are presenting a Christmas evening of entertainment. The stars include Soprano Mary Hegarty accompanied by Eleanor Malone, soryteller Diarmaid O’ Drisceoil, Ballinlough Youth Club Choir and ol’ time favourite songs played by “Memory Lane”. The venue for this Christmas cheer is Ballinlough Community Centre on 12 December at 7.00pm. Refreshments will be served. Admission €5. Tickets are available from: O’ Driscolls Superstore, Ballinlough Credit Union, Patsy’s Hair Salon, Canon Horgan Youth Centre (Friday nights 6.15-7.15pm). For further information contact Lisa on 085 7178439 or email them at ballinloughyouthclubs@gmail.com. Visit them on facebook @ Ballinlough Youth Club Events.
Kieran’s Motions and Question to the City Manager, City Council Meeting, 6 December 2010
Motions:
That the members of this Council be facilitated by the ESB with a tour of Inniscarra Dam, so that an understanding of its normal and emergency operating systems be understood (Cllr K McCarthy, Cllr L. Kingston).
In light of the successful 90th Anniversary celebrations, that an biographical information panel be provided at the Republican Plot at St. Finbarre’s Cemetery recalling those that are buried within the plot itself (Cllr K. McCarthy, Cllr M. Shields).
Question to the Manager:
To ask the manager about the details of the privatisation of Kyrl’s Quay Multi-Storey Car Park? (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)
