The next and exciting final phase of Cork’s new Marina Park is on course to begin this summer with advance works to take place over the coming weeks, Cork City Council has confirmed.
With the next phase of the 70 acre Marina Park on course to begin this summer, advance works are taking place over the coming weeks.
A long-term ambition of Cork City Council, the completed park will be six times larger than Fitzgerald’s Park and equivalent in size to Dublin Zoo. Phase 1 of the park (14 acres) was officially opened in June 2022.
Just 2.5 kilometres from the city centre, Marina Park is a key economic driver and catalyst for Cork Docklands. This next and final phase of Marina Park will extend from The Atlantic Pond to Church Avenue and will accommodate picnic areas, adventure play areas, new paths, a preserved marshland zone and the restoration of several architectural heritage sites. It will deliver high-quality public space and landscaping while protecting and enhancing the natural heritage and biodiversity of the area.
To facilitate the development of woodland trails and paths, some trees and scrub must be removed in the coming weeks. Ten trees will be removed to facilitate construction of the approved park design and a further 16 trees will be removed as they are diseased or dead and hence pose a safety concern. Extensive new tree planting (70+ trees) forms part of the next stage of the park, based on expert biodiversity and landscape advice, with a focus on biodiverse native planting.
The Marina Park works will include:
The upgrading and creation of accessible, formal and informal paths and trails throughout the park.
The restoration and preservation of heritage structures within the park and the creation of a heritage trail to highlight the unique history of the marina
Improvements works to the Atlantic Pond area including the removal of the existing concrete edging and replacement with a selection of hard and soft landscapes, improved seating provision and replacement of the existing concrete bridge.
The provision of a nature playground as well as various play areas throughout the park
The ecological management of the meadows, woodlands and marsh areas to promote and increase the biodiversity of the area embracing and enhancing the existing natural assets of the site including the Atlantic Pond, the Marsh, mature woodland, and open meadow areas
Provision of sensitive public lighting and feature lighting
Other associated works including park furniture, points of interest, wayfinding etc.
To ask the CE for an update and progress report on the resolution of the collapsed car park quay wall at South Gate Bridge (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
Motions:
That the Cork City Council archaeology team consider the digitisation of former Cork City Council archaeology books for the archaeology sub site of the Council’s website or Cork Past and Present sub site of Cork City Library (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
That safer and sustainable car parking be created in the vicinity of Cinnamon Cottage, Monastery Road Rochestown in conjunction with the owner of the Cottage and other local stakeholders (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
That footpaths be created from Douglas Hall AFC, Moneygourney to the T junction at Garryduff Road. Currently there are no footpaths in place along the Moneygourney Road (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
To add Silverdale Road to the re-surfacing estates list of the south east local electoral area (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
Cllr Kieran McCarthy is calling on any community groups based in the south east ward of Cork City, which includes areas such as Ballinlough, Ballintemple, Blackrock, Mahon, Douglas, Donnybrook, Maryborough, Rochestown, Mount Oval and Moneygourney with an interest in sharing in his 2023 ward funding to apply for his funds.
A total of E.12,000 is available to community groups through Cllr Kieran McCarthy’s ward funds. In general, contributions to groups range between e.150 to e.250 or slightly more depending on the project.
Application should be made via email to Kieran at kieran_mccarthy@corkcity.ie or via letter (Richmond Villa, Douglas Road) by Friday 3 February 2023.
This email should give the name of the organisation, contact name, contact address, contact email, contact telephone number, details of the organisation, and what will the ward grant will be used for?
Please Note:
Ward funds will be prioritised to community groups based in the south east ward or the south east local electoral area of Cork City who build community capacity, educate, build civic awareness and projects, which connect the young and old.
Cllr McCarthy especially welcomes proposals where the funding will be used to run a community event, digital included, and that benefit the wider community.
Cllr McCarthy is seeking to fund projects that give people new skill sets. That could include anything from part funding of coaching training for sports projects to groups interested in bringing forward enterprise programmes to encourage entrepreneurship to the ward.
Cllr McCarthy is particularly interested in funding community projects such as community environment projects such as tree planting and projects that that promote the rich history and environment within the south east of Cork City.
Cllr McCarthy publishes a list of his ward fund allocations each year on this page.
1183a. W T Cosgrave, c.1923 (source: Royal Irish Academy, Dublin).
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 5 January 2023
Recasting Cork: A New Year for Hope and Unity
In his New Year’s message in just over 200 words published in regional newspapers such as the Cork Examiner on 2 January 1923 President of the new Irish Free State or Saorstát Éireann W T Cosgrave gave his core messages to the Irish people. He dwelt on themes of unity and hope with further references to sacrifices made and to make to ensure Saorstát Éireann would work. The President also dwelt on the democratic principle that the Oireachtas established under the Treaty and Constitution must be the sole sovereign authority in the country;
“Today we celebrate the first New Year’s Day in Saorstát Éireann. In our new-found liberty we can restore unhindered the language and culture of the Gael; develop our country and its trade: improve in every way the lives of our citizens; and, as a co-equal member in a Commonwealth of Free Nations, stand erect and recognised amongst the Nations of the earth.
The road of liberty has been marked by painful incidents, a small section of our people having engaged in destructive war upon the Nation. Our people desire Peace, and they intend to achieve it in the only way possible by establishing the right of the majority to rule within the Nation.
“Having attained our rightful place amongst the Nations we found democracy challenged, and in making secure the rights won, and in vindicating representative institutions, we have lost two great leaders. Many gallant soldiers and patriotic citizens of the Motherland, whose unselfish labours and suffering helped to found and consolidate Saorstát Éireann have given up their lives also in its defence.
The New Year opens, however, with a message of hope – hope for peace, order, and goodwill and hope for unity with our countrymen temporarily divorced from us.
To every citizen of the Saorstát and to every soldier of our chivalrous Army, I wish God’s blessing, and send cordial greetings for a Happy New Year”.
The press release message is surrounded on the Cork Examiner page of stories from different parts of Munster of ambushes, sniping, National Army troops capturing many more Republican anti treatyites in counties such as Kerry, the question of the treatment of prisoners and possible death sentences, Republicans who died in battle, and the burning of houses of senators of the new Seanad Éireann.
A special correspondent in Dublin of the Press Association detailed the response by President Cosgrave to a resolution of ex-officers of the Mid-Tipperary Brigade of the IRA, calling on the Government to meet the Republican leaders in conference with a view to ending the warfare. The President made it perfectly clear that the basis for peace must be that the Treaty would stand without retraction, explicit or implied, of any part of it;
“The Oireachtas established under the Treaty and Constitution shall be the sole sovereign authority, that there shall be no armed force or military organisation, and no carrying or keeping of arms or material of war except such as the same authorises that there shall be no claim on the part of any person coming; under a proposed peace to exercise power of Government, or to act so as to threaten or endanger life, liberty, property, or livelihood, and that there shall be no interference with the elections…Without these fundamental conditions any so-called peace can only be a false peace, endangering the whole future of Ireland and removing the hope of national unity”.
However, whilst the effects of the Civil War lingered across the Irish countryside there was a reprieve for citizens in cities such as Cork. The streets of Cork were now in the full control of the National Army. The stories of the sniping from the anti-treaty Republican side that existed across the winter of 1922 had ceded.
Most noticeably around New Year’s Day 1923, many concerts in community settings such as its hospitals, local schools and the Fr Mathew Hall, and city performance venues are listed in the Cork Examiner. For example, a concert was held at the Mercy Hospital on New Year’s Eve for the entertainment of wounded soldiers of the National Army, not alone in the institution, but also those undergoing treatment at the other hospitals in the city. Many well-known local artistes were amongst the dozen or so contributors, including a Mrs J H Horgan. At the conclusion of the entertainment, Mr T J O’Sullivan, Chairman of the Hospital Entertainment Society for the Wounded returned thanks to those who assisted in organising the concert. On behalf of the wounded soldiers, Commandant General Denis Galvin, who with some other officers of the National Army were present, also thanked the organisers and contributors.
After a closure for a considerable time in 1922, the Palace Theatre re-opened on New Year’s Day 1923. To avail of the programme, there were performances at 6.30pm and 8.30pm. Both shows were crowded with patrons with the programme of being rooted in Vaudeville entertainment, underscored by a small orchestra under the baton of conductor Rupert Winston. Films were screened at the Coliseum, Assembly Rooms, Washington Cinema and at the Pavilion. New Year’s Day 1923 for many Corkonians brought a normality that had not been present for several years.
Happy New Year to all readers of the column.
Missed one of the 50 columns in 2022, log onto www.corkheritage.ie
Caption:
1183a. W T Cosgrave, c.1923 (source: Royal Irish Academy, Dublin).
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy calls on owners and custodians of archaeological monuments in the south east of Cork City and city wide to apply for funding for their structures.
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has advertised the 2023 Community Monuments Fund with €6 million available nationally. The fund will be administered locally by Cork City Council Archaeologist Ciara Brett.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “Funding is prioritised for the care, conservation, maintenance, protection and promotion of archaeological monuments. In 2022 Cork City Council received €167,000 for 3 projects in Cork City. Conservation works were undertaken at a lime kiln at Blarney Castle Demesne, Waterloo Belfry Tower and at Rathcooney Church, Glanmire. There is an array of archaeological monuments on private land in the south east of the city that need conservation works.
The Community Monuments Fund 2023 has 3 Streams; Stream 1 will offer grants up to €85,000 aimed at essential repairs and capital works for the conservation and repair of archaeological monuments; Stream 2 will offer grants of up to €30,000 for development of Conservation Management Plans/Reports that are aimed at identifying measures for conservation of archaeological monuments and improving public access. Stream 3 will offer grants of up to €30,000 for enhancement of access infrastructure and interpretation (including virtual/online) at archaeological monuments.
The closing date for applications to the Local Authority is 5pm on Friday 27 January 2023. Applications will be assessed by the Local Authority in advance of being submitted to the Department. Please contact Ciara Brett, City Archaeologist, archaeology@corkcity.ie if you wish to discuss a possible project.
1181a. Seán Hales, c.1920 (source: Cork City Library).
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 15 December 2022
Journeys to an Irish Free State: Assassinations and Executions
On 7 December 1922 Ballinadee born Sean Hales (1880–1922) TD and Member of the Commission of Agriculture was assasinated in Dublin. It came on the back of orders from Liam Lynch that Republican gunmen assassinate all deputies and senators who voted for the Public Safety Act (on 28 September 1922). Such an act created military courts with the authority to enforce the death penalty.
The Dictionary of Irish Biography describes that from an early age Seán Hales participated in the Republican movement. He became captain of the Ballinadee volunteer company in 1916. After the 1916 rising he was imprisoned for a time in Frongoch internment camp in Wales. After his release and some time at home, Seán became a leading local Sinn Féin volunteer. With his family, he also played a prominent part with the anti-landlord Unpurchased Tenants’ Association and anti-British Bandon People’s Food Committee. The local Sinn Féin cumann soon took over the Southern Star newspaper and Seán was a member of the new board of directors.
In 1919 Seán became battalion commander of the first (Bandon) battalion Cork no. 3 with successful manoeuvres in Timoleague, Brinny and at Newcestown Cross.
Arising from his successful ambushes in 1920 Seán became section commander of the West Cork flying column. He participated in the Crossbarry Ambush on 19 March 1921.
In reprisal for the burning of the Hales home in March 1921, Seán commandeered a contingent of Volunteers and burned Castle Bernard, the residence of the earl of Bandon. He held Lord Bandon hostage until General Strickland backed down on executing volunteers in Cork prison. The ploy paid off and the policy in executing prisoners in the Cork area ended.
In June 1920, Seán was elected to the Bandon county electoral area. In May 2021, he was nominated to Dáil Éireann as a Sinn Féin candidate in the May 1921 elections.
Seán was the only Cork brigadier to support the treaty and was elected in June 1922 as a coalition treaty candidate for Cork mid, north, south, south-east and west. During the Civil War he headed up the removal of anti-treaty forces from Skibbereen, Clonakilty, and Bandon. He was appointed to the commission of agriculture in October 1922.
Following Seán’s assassination on 7 December, his requiem mass on 11 December was held at Cork’s North Cathedral. The Cork Examiner reports that the coffin on a catafalque was draped in the tricolour, with the Brigadier’s cap placed on it. Around it was a guard of honour. Nearby knelt officers participating as chief mourners of the army. At the foot of the coffin stood three members of the National Army with arms reversed. In the nave of the church a big detachment of troops assisted at the Mass. At the Consecration a bugler from the gallery sounded the salute and Last Post.
After the funeral, Seán’s coffin was placed on the bier. Troops with two bands, brass and reed and pipers, passed down to John Redmond Street. The procession then headed towards Victoria Cross. Here a motor ambulance waited to bear the remains from there to the family burial place at St Patrick’s cemetery, Bandon. On 19 January 1930, a life-size commemorative statue was unveiled in Seán’s honour at Bank (latterly Seán Hales) Place, Bandon.
Seán’s assassination on 7 December was a major catalyst in the escalation nationally of the Civil War. On 8 December 1922, in retaliation for Sean’s assassination, the Irish Free State government ordered the execution, without trial, four prominent anti-treaty prisoners, Richard Barrett, Joseph McKelvey, Liam Mellows and Rory O’Connor. The Dictionary of Irish Biography has detailed descriptions of all four individuals.
Ballineen born Richard Barrett (1889-1922) was a quartermaster of Cork No. 3 Brigade, becoming a vital part in the war of Independence in the south and west. A steadfast anti-treatyite, he became assistant quartermaster-general to Liam Mellows, and was stationed in the Four Courts Dublin in June 1922. Arrested on 30 June, he was taken to Mountjoy prison, where as part of the prisoners’ jail council he attempted several escape attempts but with no success.
Tyrone-born Joseph McKelvey (1898-1922) was selected as commandant of the 3rd Northern Division of the IRA in 1921. Initially he supported the Anglo–Irish treaty, but after the creation of the anti-treaty IRA executive (April 1922) he departed his divisional post and was became assistant chief of staff of the anti-treaty IRA. After the surrender of Dublin’s Four Courts on 30 June 1922, Joseph was arrested and jailed in Mountjoy.
Lancashire born Liam Mellows (1892-1922) was raised across Wexford, Dublin and Cork. He was educated in Cork at the military school in Wellington Barracks and lived for a time on St Joseph’s Terrace, Ballyhooley Road. In 1918 he was elected MP for Galway East and for Meath and on his return was appointed to the staff as director of arms purchases at IRA Headquarters.
Dublin born Rory O’Connor (1883-1922) was clerk of Dáil Éireann during its underground sessions of 1919. He operated in the engineering section of the Dáil Éireann department of local government and assisted in the control of food supplies. In the early months of 1922 O’Connor was the principal promoter in the group of high-ranking IRA officers who opposed the Anglo–Irish treaty. He was elected chairman of the acting military council established by the dissidents.
Celebrating Cork (2022, Amberley Publishing) by Kieran McCarthy is now available is now available in any good bookshop.
Captions:
1181a. Seán Hales, c.1920 (source: Cork City Library).
1181b. Liam Mellows, Rory O’Connor, Joe McKelvey & Richard Barrett (source: Cork City Library).
1181b. Liam Mellows, Rory O’Connor, Joe McKelvey & Richard Barrett (source: Cork City Library).
Presentation of Cllr Kieran McCarthy’s opinion on Small Urban Areas and the Just Transition, 152nd plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions Brussels, 1 December 2022
1180a. Tim Healy, First Governor General of the Irish Free State, 1922 (picture: Library of Congress, USA).
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 8 December 2022
Journeys to an Irish Free State: Birth of a Free State
On 6 December 1921 the Treaty between Ireland and Britain was signed by the Irish plenipotentiaries and the representatives of the British Government. The period fixed by the Treaty for a Provisional Government was for twelve months, and the necessary legislation was passed, which made Ireland self-governing. On 6 December 1922, the Provisional Government’s lease of life expired and the Irish Free State parliament came into being.
The Cork Examiner of the 6 December 1922 in its editorial recorded the importance of penning the story of the negotiations and the ensuing story that unfolded:
“When the story of the past year is in the future impartially recorded, it must be set down that prominent persons who placed justice above party, and sought to achieve peace on a basis of right, have suffered for their efforts in Ireland and in Britain. Possibly no great political change in the history of the world has been achieved without sacrifice, but honour in due course is given where honour is due. The proceedings today, if they follow the anticipated lines, will mean the launching of the Irish Free State – the achievement of Ireland’s domestic independence”.
At the meeting on 6 December 1922, about one hundred Deputies attended the important Dáil Éireann meeting. In the course of his address, Chairman of the Provisional Government W T Cosgrave wished goodwill to the northern Ireland counties. He hoped that in his near future Northern Ireland would be part of the south of Ireland: “We are looking northwards with hope and confidence that whether now or very soon the people of that corner of Ireland will come in with the rest of the Irish Nation, and share its Government as well as the great prosperity and happiness which must certainly follow concord and union”.
The Chairman title became President, which Cosgrave became. His ministers and speaker were re-elected amidst much enthusiasm. President Cosgrave announced the names of the thirty Senators for the new Seanad Éireann he had nominated. In addition, under the Irish Free State Act, a Governor General would be the King’s representative in Ireland. The initial holder of the post was former Irish Parliamentary Party MP Timothy Healy (1855-1931), who was declared at his home in Dublin’s Chapelizod.
The Dictionary of Irish Biography records that Timothy or Tim was born in Bantry in 1855. He worked in England as a railway clerk. From 1878, he was based in London as a parliamentary correspondent for the Nation newspaper. He followed his family’s interest in Irish politics. His younger brother Maurice was a solicitor and MP for Cork City. His elder brother Thomas was a solicitor and Member of Parliament for North Wexford.
Tim was arrested for his connection with the Land League. But in 1880, he was elected as MP for Wexford. In Westminster Tim became the key ‘go to’ person on the Irish land question. He produced the ‘Healy Clause’ of the Land Act of 1881, which secured tenant farmers’ agrarian improvements from rent increases levied by landlords. The clause made his name and work spread throughout Nationalist Ireland. It even led to the winning of seats by the Irish Parliamentary Party in Protestant Ulster. Tim was called to the Bar in 1884 and in 1899became a member of the Queen’s Counsel.
In the Irish Parliamentary Party, Tim’s working relationship with Charles Stewart Parnell was always up and down. He finally split from Parnell in 1886 when the Kitty O’Shea divorce broke into the public realm.
Despite being a strong supporter of Home Rule, Tim did not follow the aspirations of Parnell’s successors in the Irish Parliamentary Party. After 1917 he supported Sinn Féin but promoted peaceful lines of arbitration. In September 1917 he appeared as counsel for the family of the dead Sinn Féin hunger striker Thomas Ashe. He was one of a handful from the King’s Counsel to give legal services to members of Sinn Féin in different legal trials in both Ireland and England after the 1916 Rising. This involved representing those interned in 1916 in Frongoch internment camp in North Wales.
By 1922 and because of his representation and calling for peace work he was regarded as an “elder statesman” by the British and Irish governments. Both sides proposed him in 1922 as Governor-General of the new Irish Free State. The office of Governor-General was mostly ceremonial but many Nationalists considered the presence of the office as insulting to the principles of republicanism and an emblem of prolonged Irish involvement in the United Kingdom. The Irish Government diminished the role of the office over time and it was officially abolished on 11 December 1936.
Under the Irish Free State Tim Healy did not forget one of his pet projects back in West Cork. He had fought for many years to have something done to render a mountain pass between Cork and Kerry just north of Adrigole more passable for the area’s inhabitants.
Under the Irish Free State, Tim eventually succeeded in getting the then Minister for Local Government and Public Health, General Richard Mulcahy, to put the long-deferred project into execution. A sum of £7,000 was advanced for the purpose and work began in 1931. Making every allowance for the advance in engineering knowledge and skill and the up-to-date equipment, it was nevertheless a herculean task. A makeshift roadway existed as far as the point where the rise began, but from that onwards it was practically virgin country.
In 1932, the new road was accomplished. Works were continued down the other side for a distance of a mile and a half into County Kerry until contact was established with an existing road there. A magnificent wayside Calvary cross was unveiled in early June 1935. Made of marble, it is sheltered in a niche within a few yards the highest point of the roadway. It was the gift of a Cork City donor, who wished to remain anonymous.
Celebrating Cork (2022, Amberley Publishing) by Kieran McCarthy is now available is now available in any good bookshop.
Captions:
1180a. Tim Healy, First Governor General of the Irish Free State, 1922 (picture: Library of Congress, USA).
1180b. Healy Pass, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
1180b. Healy Pass, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
Urban areas with fewer than 500,000 inhabitants house around 66% of Europe’s urban dwellers and play an essential role in making the digital and green transitions happen. For this reason, in an opinion adopted by the European Committee of the Regions at the plenary session of 1 December, regional and local leaders demand targeted financial support for smaller urban areas to ensure a balanced territorial development.
Small urban areas are an important part of Europe’s territorial, social and economic fabric. They are centres for the provision of services of general interest and places with a good quality of life. About 70% of Europe’s population lives in urban areas, but about 66% of Europe’s urban dwellers reside in urban areas with fewer than 500,000 inhabitants.
Small urban areas can function as economic and social anchor-points for the wider regions, as well as ensuring a further cohesive European Union.
Lack of financial resources and relatively low institutional capacities in comparison with other places are just a few problems that small urban areas struggle with. The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the green and digital transitions and the integration of migrants, particularly as a result of the war in Ukraine, have brought further challenges to small urban areas, such as deserted town centres, online work, more spending on basic health services, growing demand for green-blue infrastructure and reduced municipal budgets. In order to improve the capacities of small urban areas and ensure a just green and digital transition, the European Committee of the Regions put forward a series of recommendations in the opinion “Small urban areas as key actors to manage a just transition” during its plenary session on 1 December.
CoR members stressed that EU funding must be secured for areas that face significant difficulties in achieving a just transition towards a green and digital economy, so that they can improve their situation and increase their chances of remaining attractive localities with a role to play in Europe’s settlement pattern. Furthermore, cities and regions urged the European Commission to put forward a communication campaign to highlight the impact of EU support in the daily lives of people living in small places and recommend to support small urban areas to find insights on how to tackle green, digital or demographic transition challenges.
The rapporteur Kieran McCarthy, member of the Cork City Council, said: “The EU provides cities with massive opportunities to embrace the green and digital transition. However, smaller urban areas are left behind. They have limited administrative capacity, means and knowledge to fully benefit from EU initiatives. Joining up the dots of the different synergies at play is therefore crucial to achieve a balanced territorial development and support small-size cities through a more targeted approach.“
Moreover, cities and regions highlighted the importance of smart village projects and the implementation of digital solutions to optimise connectivity, daily life and services in small urban areas, within the National Recovery and Resilience Plans, as well as the European Structural and Investment Funds. The implementation of the Just Transition Fund (JTF) should furthermore increase support for small urban areas, to help their municipalities and SMEs face the transition towards climate neutrality.
Finally, CoR members underlined that the EU can boost territorial development by promoting increased collaboration between urban and rural areas, overcoming obstacles that have divided them in the past. The principles “better funding, better regulations and better knowledge” of the Urban Agenda for the EU should also be applied in the implementation of the EU Rural Agenda in order to successfully support place-based innovation.
