Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has welcomed the allocation by government of e.161,000 for a safety revamp of the junction Bellair Estate and Ballinlough Road, adjacent to Our Lady of Lourdes School. The sum came as part of a central government package of funding to Cork City Council as part of a Low Cost Safety Scheme for local road networks.
Cllr McCarthy highlights: “The corner of Old Lady of Lourdes National School is a blind corner and has many people crossing this dangerous stretch of road every day. Public safety has been a regular issue that local people have raised with me. With colleagues, it’s been a very long battle through many Council motions and debates at Council level to get funding in place for the revamp of the junction. I do think though that when the campaign to seek funding was ramped up last year by the local school community and residents in the local area, that it pushed the narrative strongly to central government to intercede, and finally deal with the large scale funding needed to meet the junction’s problems”.
“Over many years, I have received much correspondence and phone calls from people highlighting stories of near misses and outlining fears for themselves and in many cases, children living in the local area. It was people power, which drove the funding to be put in place. It is envisaged that the junction will be raised with pedestrian crossings. Ward Councillors do not have a design to show yet or a timeline for public consultation and construction, but we can now work on those aspects and through those aspects”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.
Cllr Kieran McCarthy at Bellair Junction, Mid February 2022
To ask the CE about the mechanisms in place to combat homelessness this winter in the city?
How many homelessness cases on the streets in the last weekend of January 2022?
Are their beds available for all homelessness at this point in time in the city (early February 2022)?
How many emergency accommodation units?
To ask for the breakdown of finance given to housing homeless agencies in the city in 2021 & for 2022? (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
Motions:
That the public lighting provision be examined and new lighting, as appropriate, be installed at Flaherty’s Lane, which gives access into Glencoo Estate, Ballinlough, and at Wallace’s Avenue if needs be (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
That the circular road/ trail around Tramore Valley Park be examined and resurfaced, if needs, be to help people walk and cycle upon it (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
That the Skehard Road park get signage erected on site naming it as such, plus an examination of how to deal with flooding and drainage in its southern section plus the provision of new trees, as appropriate (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
That Ballybrack Heights, Donnybrook be added to the re-surfacing list for the South East LEA, as well as prioritising repairs of the estate’s footpaths (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has welcomed the start of the work on the pedestrian and cycle path and new bridge which will provide a safe, sustainable and alternative travel route between Grange and Tramore Valley Park and onwards to Douglas and the city centre.
Funded by the National Transport Authority (NTA), the kilometre-long pathway, which includes the construction of a new bridge over the N40 South Ring Road, will provide connectivity between Grange/Frankfield and the southern suburbs and will support residents, students and commuters to opt for active travel and thereby reduce traffic congestion.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “The path comes in from the Grange Road through what is known locally as the donkey field. The scheme will have a series of steps and ramps along the steeper section down through the valley until it reaches the bridge over the N40. On the other side of the bridge, there will be once again steps and a ramp into the Tramore Valley Park. The four metre wide pathway will also support people with mobility needs and will include environmentally sensitive public lighting”.
“The bridge is another game-changer, which will nicely open up Tramore Valley Park to the city’s southern ridges joining up the dots with amenities such as the Mangala walk and its future extensions upstream”, asserted Cllr McCarthy.
Site clearance works have already begun. To facilitate construction, it will be necessary to remove some trees and greenery on the site. Care has been taken during project design to minimise the impact on biodiversity. A native tree planting programme will also be undertaken at the site as part of the project and trees will also be offered to local community groups.
Infrastructure Development Director of Services with Cork City Council, Gerry O’Beirne said: “ In line with the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy, this project will support residents, commuters and students to make more sustainable transport choices which will help reduce car dependency and therefore traffic congestion in the city. The Grange – Tramore Valley Park path will also make walking or cycling more attractive and support people to easily and safely enjoy a more active lifestyle in their own community”. It is expected that works will be completed in early 2023.
10 February 2022, “Independent councillor Kieran McCarthy told The Echo he would be calling on Cork City Council to address subsidence along the quay wall on French’s Quay, damage which he predicted could only worsen whenever construction begins on the planned event centre, Quay repairs needed before event centre construction can begin, Cork councillor says, Quay repairs needed before event centre construction can begin, Cork councillor says (echolive.ie)
1137a. Footage still of Éamon de Valera delivering his oration at the Anti-Treaty event in Dublin, 12 February 1921 (picture: Irish Film Archive).
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 10 February 2022
Journeys to a Free State: De Valera Comes to Cork
On Sunday 12 February 1922, the Anti-Treaty side marked the launching of a determined campaign by Éamon de Valera and his followers in Dáil Éireann. They were against the policy adopted by Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins in recommending the Treaty.
The announcement of the launch was issued on the previous Thursday, 9 February and stated; “It is evident from Mr Lloyd George’s speech in the British House of Commons that his policy is once more to trick the Irish people and deal with President Griffith and Mr Collins as he dealt with Messrs Redmond and Dillon”.
The Cork Examiner records that it was under the auspices of the Republican party that three platforms were erected in the heart of Dublin’s O’Connell Street, on Sunday afternoon, 12 February. The event was densely thronged with people. Thousands of men arrived led by their belief, some in uniform and nearly every one of them carrying arms. They marched in military formation and attracted great attention. De Valera in his speech denounced the treaty, declared that it denied the sovereignty of the Irish people, was signed under the threat of an immediate untenable war, and that it “hopelessly compromised the independence and unity of Ireland”.
Such was the success of the Dublin event in terms of large supportive crowds that De Valera continued his demonstrations at various towns and cities across the country. On Saturday evening 18 February 1922, the Republican demonstration with De Valera and his leading members reached Cork. On receiving a warm welcome at the railway station, De Valera in a short speech remarked: “You don’t want to go into the British Empire; you don’t want to disestablish the Republic, and if an election is forced upon you, we feel certain that the people of Cork will do their part in proving to the world that they still stand for the Irish Republic”.
On the following day on Sunday 19 February, a large public demonstration took place on the Grand Parade and was attended in every respect by a representative contingent of those who supported the Republican cause. Special trains from all the railway lines in the county were requisitioned. The influx was huge. Companies of volunteers marshalled and took their places along the Grand Parade, South Mall, on Washington Street and along the entrance to the place of the meeting. Two platforms were erected – one by the National Monument and one by the Berwick Fountain.
Tram and car services were entirely suspended along the various routes converging on the meeting space. Amongst the bands that took part in the demonstration were the Workingmen’s Brass and Fife and Drum Bands, the MacCurtain Memorial Fife and Drum Band, the Volunteer Piper’s band, and a number of drum and fife bands from across the country.
The Cork Examiner details that De Valera’s arrival was heralded with much enthusiasm by the public present, as he was motored up to the site of his platform. He was escorted by Cathal Brugha TD, Constance Markievicz TD, Seán MacSwiney TD, and other prominent supporters. At platform number one at the National Monument, the proceedings there were presided upon by the Lord Mayor, Councillor Donal Óg O’Callaghan TD. He briefly addressed the meeting in Irish and then called on De Valera to speak. De Valera stepped up with cheers, and cries of “Up the Republic”.
De Valera opened his speech by noting that he went to America to speak to the people of America, and to ask them to recognise the Republic that was “set up in Ireland by the free will of the Irish people”. Little did he dream, he described, that the day would ever come when he would have to come to the Irish people themselves, asking them to affirm that Republic that itself had set up. He noted: “What I have to say to you can best be summarised by the resolutions that I am going to propose to you. They are the same resolutions that were adopted in Dublin by tens of thousands of the citizens of the Irish capital and here in Cork today I am certain that they will be adopted equally without question by the people of the southern capital, the people of Cork”.
De Valera then read the resolutions, which repudiated the Articles of Agreement or Treaty, asserted that any election based on the Treaty would cause partition, deemed the Treaty a threat to the disestablishment of the Republic and its cause, and would do nothing to honour the sacrifices of the men and women who suffered most during the Irish War of Independence.
Proceeding, De Valera said it was not necessary for him to use any argument to impress upon them their approval of the resolutions. He appealed to the crowds present that the nation was in danger – to a greater danger than it was in 750 years. He asserted: “This was the first time in 750 years in which they had been fighting Britain that there was a suggestion to give a democratic title to England in Ireland. Up to this present every Irishman could say that Britain had No title in Ireland”.
De Valera said that it was because they were threatened by an outside enemy and an outside force thought there was any question of departing from the Republic. He noted “if the treaty was signed under duress, then the men who went over broke their faith with the Irish people”.
That afternoon of 12 February 1922, Cathal Brugha TD, Liam Mellows TD, David Kent TD, and Professor William Stockley TD also spoke of the vision of the Irish Republic under threat.
Caption:
1137a. Footage still of Éamon de Valera delivering his oration at the Anti-Treaty event in Dublin, 12 February 1921 (picture: Irish Film Archive).
The Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project is aimed at both primary and post primary level. Project books may be submitted on any aspect of Cork’s rich past.
7 February 2022, “CPO is done after everything else fails, the council is in the business of collaboration, it really is a last resort but it is to the benefit of the street. The street needs an injection of public and private investment, there has been too much stagnation on the street, the street’s public realm needs rejuvenation, it’s clogged with cars, traffic and parking. Hopefully, this redevelopment will have a positive knock-on effect on the essence of the street”, Welcome for Council’s ‘big win’ on North Main Street; four properties to be acquired, Welcome for Council’s ‘big win’ on North Main Street; four properties to be acquired (echolive.ie)
1136a. Photograph of Cumann na mBan Executive, 5 February 1922 (source: National Library of Ireland, Dublin).
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 3 February 2022
Journeys to a Free State: The Cumann na mBan Meets
On 5 February 1922, near500 delegates attended the annual convention of Cumann na mBan held in the Mansion House, Dublin. Many of the delegates wore the official uniform of the organisation. Countess Markievicz presided. The proceedings began shortly after 11am.
The Cork Examiner records that whilst opening the convention, Countess Markievicz said that as president she could not make her statement a political speech. All she could say was that they were asked that day to reaffirm their allegiance to the Irish Republic. The question before them was whether they would remain Republican or accept Dominion Home Rule as provided in the Treaty signed in London. She asked them to give the question their careful examination, and “hoped God would give them level heads there that day”.
Following the opening statement Cork’s Mary MacSwiney TD arose and made her proposal – “That the Executive of Cumann na mBan reaffirms its allegiance to the Republic of Ireland, and therefore cannot support the articles of agreement signed in London on December, 6th 1921”. She explained that several telegrams had been received from delegates and branches unable to be represented owing to the railway strike in the South of Ireland, with many indicated support of the idea of the Republic.
Proceeding Mary said the Cumann na mBan was an independent body of Irish women pledged to work for the Republic and its recognition among the nations. She asked if they were going to stand by the Republic or for Dominion Home Rule, or whether they were going to be “sitters on the fence”. She put forward that women were the backbone of the nation and asked them to reaffirm their allegiance to the Republic and “not to be led astray by those who talked of the Treaty being a step towards the Republic”.
Discussing the Dáil decision on the Treaty, Mary asserted that all those in Dáil Éireann took an oath of allegiance to the Republic and swore to help the interests in every way. She held that: “The people who would take that oath were people who do not believe in the oath to the Republic, and therefore were not the people to lead the country to its goal and force its recognition as a Republic by the nations”.
The Treaty, Mary held, was a subversion of the Republic and they could not accept it without turning down the Republic. Therefore, she asked them to “think carefully, and to think bravely”. She pointed out that the strongest plea abroad was that Ireland was not a domestic question for Britain, but the “case of a small nation fighting for its life”. She further noted: “If we accept the Treaty we would be accepting the position of Ireland as a domestic question, and the nations of the world would be able to say when approached – this is a domestic question, we cannot interfere”. Concluding, Mary MacSwiney highlighted: “we have the Republic, and we will never give it up”. Mary’s motion was seconded, and several delegates spoke briefly in support of the resolution.
The principal rebuttal was given by Jenny Wyse Power. Wicklow-born Jennie was a prominent member of Sinn Féin from its very outset of its creation as a party. Jenny set up a branch of the Gaelic League in Dublin and was its first secretary. In 1914 she was a founder member of Cumann na mBan.
Jenny proposed the following amendment to Mary MacSwiney’s motion: “That we reaffirm our allegiance to the Republic, but, realising, that the treaty signed in London will – if accepted by the Irish people – be a big step along the road to that end. We declare we will not work obstructively against those who support the treaty – (1) either in their putting the treaty before the people, or (2) in the subsequent working of it, should the majority of the people accept the treaty at a general election; and we also declare that in such an election this organisation shall not take a party side as between men who have worked so nobly and given such proof of their loyalty to the Republic”.
Jenny further noted it required some courage for her to say what she intended to say at the meeting. She noted: “I have nothing to put before you in the way of a heroic record except that my life had been spent in drudgery for the service of Ireland”. She held the perspective that the decision they were called upon to make there was unfair and premature. She felt until the IRA declared what they were going to do it was premature for the Cumann to register a decision. Jenny held that they would be in a “very curious position” if they decided on a policy that would be different from the policy of IRA.
Jenny argued that the amendment she proposed would save the Cumann as an organisation and keep it out of what she deemed “dirty election work in Ireland”. She articulated the question: “Were they going today to decide to support only Republican candidates and go out in the open against Irishmen who had fought and worked for the Republic?” Such action, Jenny contended, would obstruct the mechanics of the “Free State”. She also added: “If the Free State is not accepted British government returns to this country and the military.
A formal vote was taken and 419 Cumann na mBan members voted against as opposed to 63 in favour. Jenny’s amendment fell. Ultimately a split in the Cumann na mBan occurred. In March 1922 the Pro-Treaty women, headed by Jennie Wyse Power set up the organisation called Cumann na Saoirse. Some of those who supported the Treaty changed the name of their branches to Cumann na Saoirse, while others retained their name Cumann na mBan, but gave allegiance to the Provisional Government.
Caption:
1136a. Photograph of Cumann na mBan Executive, 5 February 1922 (source: National Library of Ireland, Dublin).
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has welcomed the 2022 allocation from the City Council’s Sports and Amenity Fund. Ballinlough Community Park will get a multi-use games arena or ‘muga’ from the fund. Each local electoral area gets approx e30,000 to spend annually on sports equipment such as outdoor gyms or a muga. The grants scheme is in its second year.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “It is very positive news that rolling grants schemes are being created within the Council and aimed at recreational infrastructure such as outdoor gyms and mugas. There are also now more regular discussions to put funding aside to create new playgrounds and to add to the ones already in existence. Covid and its impact on Council income streams though has slowed down the ring fencing of finance”.
Cllr McCarthy continued: “The details of the muga’s exact location in Ballinlough Park still has to be worked out, but funding is in place. It is a park, which offers a lot of views and trees, and the Faery trail, which need to be protected as well. The muga is something I have lobbied for, as have my other colleagues, over many years for the area. A muga for the area was one of my first motions way back in time”.
“As an additional note, it is also welcome that the 2021 sanctioned outdoor gyms from the City Council’s Sports and Amenity Fund are set to open at six city locations this April”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.
The six new callisthenics gyms will open on the Lough Mahon Amenity Walkway, in Clogheenmilcon, John O’Callaghan Park, Popham’s Park, Gerry O’Sullivan Park, and at Murphy’s Farm. The facilities will be similar to those existing in other areas of the city, such as in Tramore Valley Park and Harty’s Quay”.
Journeys to a Free State: Evacuation and Amnesty Begins
By 12 January 1922, all over Munster, preparations were in progress for the evacuation by the British military and police. Inventories were taken, baggage were packed up and were made ready for departure. In some districts special trains were arranged to remove troops whilst steamer accommodation was also made ready.
The 12 and 13 January also coincided with the start of the release of political prisoners across Ireland and in the UK. Eighty-five prisoners were released from Cork Gaol off Western Road. Of these 32 were convicted men, 21 were under a sentence of death, 20 others had unconfirmed sentence and there were 12 untried men.
Many people assembled in the vicinity of the prison. For some time before the release of the prisoners, they cheered from their cells and other parts of the gaol, and outside responded. As soon as the first party of prisoners arrived outside the gates they were greeted with cheer after cheer. The first batch of 32 convicted men exited the prison gates and one of their number played the soldier’s song on a mouth organ.
On 16 January 1922, the formal handing-over took place of the departments at Dublin castle to the Provisional Government. Members of the new government, headed up by Michael Collins, entered Dublin castle amidst the cheers of a vast crowd. They were received by the outgoing viceroy in the Privy Council chamber. The formal handing over of the departments followed. A statement, signed by Desmond Fitzgerald, Minister of Publicity and sent to the press, noted but they had received the surrender of Dublin castle, and “had taken it over for the Irish nation”.
A proclamation from the new Irish government also directed that all law courts, corporations, councils, departments of State, boards, judges, civil servants, officials, and all public servants and functionaries, who acted under authority the British government, were to continue to carry out their functions unless another way was ordered by the new government and their new constitution.
On the same day of Dublin Castle’s takeover, the first batch of political prisoners who had been released from English gaols reached Cork City. There was an enormous crowd present at the railway station. The reception was an impromptu one, and comprised some members of the local Volunteers, representatives from Cumann na mBan, and friends and relations of the men.
When the train steamed into the station there was cheers, accompanied by a deafening half a dozen fog signals. Among the political prisoners were eight members of the bodyguard of the late Lord Mayor Terence MacSwiney, who had been arrested on board MacSwiney’s funeral boat from Dun Laoghaire-Holyhead for wearing the volunteer uniform. The party also included Patrick O’Keeffe or Pádraig Ó Chaoimh, secretary of the Cork County Board, who had just served at twelve month imprisonment. In time Pairc Ui Chaoimh was to named after him.
One of those released from the Isle of Wight’s Pankurst Prison was Fr Dominic O’Connor. He was the chaplain of Lord Mayor Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney returned to Cork from his imprisonment. A correspondent of the Cork Examiner interviewed him.
Following the sad events of Terence MacSwiney’s funeral on 31 October 1920, the Lord Mayor’s Capuchin Chaplain Fr Dominic O’Connor received death threats in Cork. For his own safety, the Father Provincial sent him to Kilkenny and then to Dublin. Fr Dominic arrived in Dublin in November 1920. He rarely left the house and during part of that time he also became unwell.
On 9 January 1921, Fr Dominic, was charged before a Field General Court Martialat Kilmainham Courthouse. Fr Dominic was charged on two counts – that he was making a letter statement in a house in Brixton London “to cause disaffection to his Majesty” and secondly that whilst in Dublin he had in possession a “memorandum tablet” or notebook containing statements – the publication of which would be likely “to cause disaffection to his Majesty”. The sentence was five years’ penal servitude, with two remitted, i.e. three years’ penal servitude. In the prison at London’s Wormwood Scrubbs his clerical attire was taken from him, and he was garbed in ordinary criminal convict clothes, and handcuffed. He was taken to Parkhurst Convict Prison in the Isle of Wight. There he was bound by the conventional convict regime regarding dress, diet, and labour (though his hair and beard were not cut).
In his interview with the Cork Examiner (published on 25 January 1922), Fr Dominic noted he and other political prisoners had no privileges except for a censored letter every four months and a visit at the same periods at which of course a warder was present. Despite the strict surveillance one of his fellow prisoners managed, through an American source, to obtain a copy of all of the Irish papers occasionally.
On his release on 14 January 1922, Fr Dominic was handed a bundle of letters, some of which were sent to him in Easter 1921, and of which he had never heard of them till then. He noted in his interview, “I was handed a bundle of letters…one of which was from a friend who has since died. Some friends also sent us parcels for Christmas, but they were returned. My sister who was a nun of the Dominican order in South Africa, wrote to me, but her letters were returned without me knowing that that they had even arrived”.
Missed one of the 51 columns in 2021, check out the indices at Kieran’s heritage website, www.corkheritage.ie
