Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has welcomed progress on the extension of the Mangala walk. An allocation of €800,000 from the National Transport Authority (NTA) to Cork City Council earlier this year has allowed much progress on the next phase of the Ballybrack cycle scheme (phase 4). This next phase involves the construction of circa 2.1km, 4m wide pedestrian and cycle path connecting the recently completed Ballybrack Pedestrian and Cycle Track (phases 2 & 3) with Maryborough Hill and proposed new residential developments along the route, especially in Castletreasure.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “The project is slightly behind because of Covid and stoppage works in construction. But the NTA allocation has enabled Cork City Council to progress with a design team and it is currently preparing the detailed designs for the project. Ground investigation work is also currently proceeding at present. Cork City Council is hoping to be in a position to tender for the scheme in 2022. I will keep my pressure on what is a very exciting addition”.
Cllr McCarthy concluded: “The Mangala is a very important asset from a biodiversity perspective and from a quality of life, and for many other reasons. It would be my own view that the Mangala should be part of a much larger wider circular walking route even again, in and out of the Maryborough and Donnybrook ridges, where development is targeted. It is a concept that I have put forward in discussions for the draft Development Plan, and something I continue to lobby for”.
An allocation of €800,000 from the National Transport earlier this year has allowed much progress on the next phase of the Ballybrack cycle scheme (phase 4).
This next phase involves the construction of circa 2.1km, 4m wide pedestrian and cycle path connecting the recently completed Ballybrack Pedestrian and Cycle Track Phases 2 & 3 with Maryborough Hill and proposed new residential developments along the route, especially in Castletreasure.
The project is slightly behind because of Covid and stoppage works in construction.
But the allocation has enabled Cork City Council to progress with a design team and it is currently preparing the detailed designs for the project.
Ground investigation work is also currently proceeding at present.
Cork City Council is hoping to be in a position to tender for the scheme in 2022.I will keep my pressure on what is a very exciting addition.
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has welcomed the recent launch of the second round of public consultation for the Cork Draft Bus Network Redesign, but has asked the National Transport Authority to liase with the general public as much as possible, especially those who are currently regular bus journey users. The Network Design forms a core part of the overall BusConnects Cork Programme. This round of public consultation will be on the BusConnects Cork Draft New Bus Network.
In July 2021, the NTA held an initial public consultation on BusConnects Cork. The survey style consultation gave the people of Cork the opportunity to help shape a new bus network by providing views on a how a new network would best service everyone. There were almost 1,200 responses to the survey and many more engagements. These responses informed the design of a Draft New Bus Network for the Cork Metropolitan Area, which will now be published for review and feedback.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “The current use of public transport is only 5% of the overall modal movement within the city, which is very low compared to other cities of Cork’s size in western Europe. Bus Connects is very ambitious to raise the use of public transport. There are challenges – especially at certain times of the day there when it comes to dealing with traffic congestion, and hence at certain times of days, buses are late across many routes”.
Cllr McCarthy continued; “The ambition is great but it is also very important to reach out to existing bus consumers. I have already had bus users from Ballinlough to Douglas coming forward to me with concerns and suggestions. I would also ask regular bus users to have a close look at the Cork Draft New Bus Network. Informationcan now be found on the website www.busconnects.ie/busconnects-cork. I will be making my own submissions. If people wish me to raise their concerns as well, send me an email on kieran_mccarthy@corkcity.ie”
The consultation period for the BusConnects will run from Tuesday 2 November to Friday 10 December 2021. The consultation portal is available on the website and submissions can be made there. Seven Local Area Booklets are available on the website and will also be delivered to over 160,000 premises in the coming weeks. Virtual public meetings will take place via Zoom on Wednesday 17 November (@6.30pm), Wednesday 24 November (@1.30pm) and Tuesday 30 November (@6.30pm). Additional virtual events may be scheduled subject to interest. Further details as well as registration links can be found on the website.
1124a. Former site of Bere Island Internment Camp, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 4 November 2021
Journeys to a Truce: The Case of Bere Island Internment Camp
November 1921 coincided with many stories appearing in newspapers such as the Cork Examiner on conditions and stories from the internment camps in the Cork area in Spike Island and in Bere Island. Such accounts are also carried in witness statements archived in the Bureau of Military History.
Bere Island prison camp was constructed by the British Authorities for convicted Republican prisoners in 1920. After they were transported to Spike Island, the camp became a War of Independence internment camp only between April and December 1921. At its peak, the Bere Island camp held 284 men across four large timber huts enclosed by a strong wire fence. Among them were Seán Collins, a brother of General Michael Collins, and Professor Alfred O’Rahilly who would later in time become President of University College Cork.
Today there is no trace of the camp and its buildings, but a plaque was unveiled at the site by members of the Bere Island Projects Group as part of National Heritage Week 2021, with a flag ceremony provided by the Defence Forces from Collins Barracks in Cork.
Bere Island Projects Group CLG also received funding from The Heritage Council’s Community Heritage Grant Scheme 2021 to produce a short film documenting the history of the camp. The film, which is hosted on YouTube, is entitled the Bere Island Internment Camp Film, and features historians Ted O’Sullivan and John Borgonovo. Ted and John provide great insights on the short film and it is very much worth having a look.
The camp was prisoner run and prisoner dominated. The camps were fully militarised under IRA control. The four huts had a number of prisoners in each hut and there was a command structure with a hut leader and each hut responded to a camp committee like a camp commandant. There were activities such as GAA matches and educational classes. For example, Alfred O’Rahilly gave lectures in French, in history, in maths and in Irish.
When the Truce was declared in July 1921, every Sunday the camp put on a variety show at the wired enclosure fence and all the locals came and sat on an embankment outside the prison and watched this. In return locals also held small performances.
There were a number of successful and attempted escapes from the camp. Denis Collins, Member of Ballinspittal Company, in the Bandon Battalion records one such incident in his Bureau of Military History witness statement (WS827). Denis transferred from Spike Island to Bere Island on 28 May 1921 on a British destroyer ship. He was allotted to one of the four huts. He noted that when the Truce came, nothing eventful happened on Bere Ireland for some months. He describes a very big compound with plenty of room for exercise. They were on the highest part of the island and had a great view of Bantry Bay and the mountains all around. The intelligence in the internment camp was in communication with the Volunteers on the mainland.
In October 1921, by arrangement with local sympathisers outside, Denis describes that five selected men succeeded in escaping while going down to bathe. They slipped away through the open door of a stable as the party passed through a farmyard, being shielded by tall men in front and rere. Denis relates: “They got to a dug-out prepared for them and after dark got away to the mainland by boat. The rest of the party proceeded on its way, enjoyed the dip and returned, no one being missed. Even that night when the British came into the huts every couple of hours to carry out the usual count, every bed was occupied apparently. Some of the sleepers were dummies”.
Next morning, however, Denis describes that at the count out in the compound there were five prisoners short. There was great fuss and confusion. The camp commandant at that time, named Captain Martin drew his revolver and ordered the prisoners into the huts so that a detailed and careful count could be made. They refused. He brought in a large party of troops and ordered them to fix bayonets. The whole party was ordered to advance on the prisoners but even this did not move them. Then the N.C.Os. were told to fix bayonets and one of them refused. The N.C.O refused several times and was marched off under arrest. The count that was carried out a second time still only disclosed that there were five prisoners missing and no satisfaction was got out of it by the British.
The camp in the autumn of 1921 also planned the digging of a tunnel of 100 yards from the hut Denis was in, under the wire, under a soldiers’ hut outside and past the guardroom – which would be concealed from the camp lights. Then the plan was to go down to the shore where boats would have come across from the Castletownbere side to take the escapees away.
Working in threes, and with a rough implement, which was sharpened in the camp’s own cookhouse, they dug from under the hut as arranged and across to under the hut where the soldiers were quartered. They thought they were discovered when one of us directly under the floor after coming up from our tunnel kicked the boards overhead. He describes; “All was silence in the soldiers’ hut and then we heard the sound of a bolt being drawn back in a rifle. We expected a shot through the floor any moment and then we heard the soldier bursting into song…Apparently, he was just cleaning his rifle and never heard the sound of the boot against the floor beneath”.
Denis and his comrades carried on with their tunnel until some days before they were released and then they were still 20 yards from the finish. They were released on 8 December 1921. A couple of days before this when it was decided to stop the tunnelling, once they heard about the release plans.
Caption:
1124a. Former site of Bere Island Internment Camp, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
The National Transport Authority (NTA) has today launched a second round of public consultation for the Cork Bus Network Redesign, which forms a key part of the overall BusConnects Cork Programme. This round of public consultation will be on the BusConnects Cork Draft New Bus Network.
In July 2021, the NTA held an initial public consultation on BusConnects Cork. The survey style consultation gave the people of Cork the opportunity to help shape a new bus network by providing views on a how a new network would best service everyone. There was almost 1200 responses to the survey and many more engagements.
These responses informed the design of a Draft New Bus Network for the Cork Metropolitan Area, which will now be published for review and feedback. Under the proposals contained in the new Draft Network Report, the level of bus services in Cork will increase by 36% with shorter waits and more direct routes for commuters within the city. 34% more people will live close to a frequent service.
The consultation period for the BusConnects Cork Draft New Bus Network will run from Tuesday 2 November to Friday 10 December 2021. This consultation will take place online, allowing the public to provide their views on the amended bus network proposals.
· Draft New Bus Network Report – Available in English, Irish and accessible PDF.
· 7 Local Area Booklets –Available on the website and will be delivered to over 160,000 premises in the coming weeks.
· Public Information Campaign – This will be ran for six weeks across all local media outlets.
· Interactive Online Map – Learn how people can use the proposed services and routes.
· Online Information Events – Virtual public meetings will take place via Zoom on Wednesday 17th November (@6.30pm), Wednesday 24th November (@1.30pm) and Tuesday 30th November (@6.30pm). Additional virtual events may be scheduled subject to interest. Further details as well as registration links can be found on our website.
· Online Feedback Form – The consultation portal is available on our website and submissions can be made there.
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy welcomes progress on the Old Rail Line works. Work on the Greenway Improvements Scheme Phase 1 is progressing well. Surfacing is now fully complete from Pairc Ui Chaoimh to Blackrock Station and from the St Michael’s Drive Ramp to the N40.
The first section of Public Lighting has been installed from Pairc Ui Chaoimh to Blackrock Station. The new access ramps from Eden, Ballinsheen Bridge and Skehard Road are currently under construction as is the new ramp from the Greenway to the Marina.
Cllr McCarthy notes: “Local people have been very patient with the works. The Marina Ramp though requires staged construction to allow for settlement of the poor underlying ground. Similarly works are ongoing at Blackrock Station”.
Cllr McCarthy concluded; “Landscaping work including tree planting will begin early in the new year. The section of the Greenway from Pairc Ui Chaoimh to the N40 flyover will re-open in the weeks ahead. However, all associated access ramps will only be fully open by early summer 2022. Completion of the Marina ramp will be delayed due to the required timeframe for settlement of soil. However it is expected to be fully complete by the end of the 2022”.
29 October 2021, “Cork city councillor and local historian Kieran McCarthy has called on the council to enhance their signage in city cemeteries to help locate burial plots. The Independent councillor put forward a motion in which he stated that although many of the city’s cemeteries are well maintained, in some of the older cemeteries it is difficult to locate faded inscribed numerical markers”, Councillor calls for signage in city cemeteries to be enhanced, Councillor calls for signage in city cemeteries to be enhanced (echolive.ie)
1123a. Crossbarry Ambush Memorial, present day, sculpted by Terry McCarthy and erected in 1966 (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 28 October 2021
Journeys to a Truce: The Aeridheachts Return
October 1921 coincided with many public events, which
drew a focus on the importance of the beginning of the Treaty negotiations in
London. Rural events called “aerideachts” or cultural events returned, which focussed
on Irish music and on orations on Irish nationalism. Such events were banned just
before the physical months of the War of Independence. But as peace reigned in
the autumn of the 1921, such events returned and were used once again as a
political tool by Sinn Féin to outreach to the Irish public.
On Sunday 2 October 1921, the Cork Examiner reports
that thousands of visitors mustered at Crossbarry aeridheacht. The event
commenced at 2pm. A special train left Cork for Kinsale Junction at noon, and
another special left Clonakilty at the same hour, both calling at intermediate
stations. Teas and refreshments were supplied on the grounds. Threatening rainfall
though did lessen the crowds from Cork City. However, large numbers travelled
to Crossbarry in motor cars, motor lorries, horse traps and horse cars of all
descriptions, as well as on bicycles and on foot. Towards the close of the programme,
persistent rain began to fall but those present did not leave.
The fixture was held in a field adjoining the road at
the point where the Crossbarry Ambush was carried out. Previous to the opening
of the programme, many people who had come to Crossbarry occupied themselves in
visiting the various places of interest in connection with the engagement – the
points occupied by the military in their advancing movements and the line of
retreat of the IRA, and houses involved with the ambush.
The very best talent including All-Ireland
prize-winners contributed to the success of the aeridheacht programme. This
comprised singers of traditional songs, Gaelic dancing, and the Irish music and
sport. Members of the Cork Pipers’ Club and also the Bandon and Kinsale Pipers’
Club were participants.
Commandants Tom Barry and Seán Hales TD presided. Addressing
the gathering, Tom Barry was enthusiastically received and had been asked by
the committee to say a few words to the people present. In his opinion an
aeridheacht was not the place for speaking on matters affecting the government
of the country, and he would confine himself to matters affecting him
personally as a “Soldier of the Irish Republic”. Probably the matter engaging
their attention more so than any other at that moment was the Truce. He
outlined that the Irish Republican Army had entered into the Truce, not at its
own request, but at the request of others but would adhere to the terms, noting
– “We have entered into it loyally, and with every intention of scrupulously
adhering to its terms. We have expected the enemy to keep the terms as
strictly, but as we all know, this was far from the case”.
Continuing Tom Barry referred to a breach of Truce
conditions through the actions of the Royal Irish Constabulary in Tipperary
Town in September (1921) and said it had been stated that it was not the
intention of either side to make a statement in reference to the matter pending
an enquiry.
Another matter concerning the Truce was the treatment
of Irish prisoners by Irish gaols. Citing the case of Cork Gaol, Tom Barry said
the men undergoing sentences of imprisonment with hard labour were placed on
the same status as prisoners. He highlighted that 6,000 men were being treated
in gaols and camps as criminals. Tom Barry argued: “The Irish Republican Army
was recognised by the British Government as an army of soldiers, but their
comrades in gaol were treated as criminals”.
Tom Barry noted that he would not go into the question
of whether there would or would not be peace as a result of the negotiations.
He stated that the Irish Republican Army was there to act under the orders of
the Government of the Republic – “they were not looking for war, but they were
ready for it. The country wanted liberty, and would insist on getting it…we
must not forget that from this particular area, people had laid down their
lives in the cause. Some had died almost on the very field in which the people
were standing…it was the duty of everyone to be prepared to fight on if
necessary…the people around West Cork as a whole, and of that district, in
particular, had always backed up the Army as those of no other district in the
country had done”.
Seán Hales in his speech reiterated Tom Barry’s
core points. In 1920, Seán was section commander of the West Cork Flying Column
and took part in the Crossbarry Ambush on 19 March 1921. In retaliation for the
arson attack on the Hales home in Knocknacurra House, Ballinadee, Bandon, in March 1921, he led a contingent of Volunteers and burned Castle Bernard,
the residence of the earl of Bandon. The occupant, Lord Bandon, was held hostage until General
Strickland, the British Officer-in-Command, assured he would not execute
Volunteers in Cork prison. The British authorities conceded and there was a
conclusion to the policy of executing prisoners of war in the Cork area. Seán
was elected to the Bandon county electoral area in June 1920, nominated to Dáil
Éireann as a Sinn Féin candidate in the May 1921 elections held in fulfilment
of the Government of Ireland Act.
On that Sunday 2 October 1921, two other Aeridheachts
– one at Clondrohid and one at Youghal – were held. The Clondrohid event
focussed on the importance of the Irish language. Mr Diarmuid Ó Laoghaire from
the Munster Training College in Ballingeary delivered what was described a
powerful address in Irish with the core focus on the need for Irish citizens to
speak Irish more. Meanwhile at Youghal, David Kent and Mary MacSwiney gave addresses,
which focussed on the history of the Irish Independence movement and setting
out their perspective for a modern Ireland.
Captions:
1123a.
Crossbarry Ambush Memorial, present day, sculpted by Terry McCarthy and erected
in 1966 (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
1123b. Detail of cross on
Crossbarry Ambush Memorial, present day, sculpted by Terry McCarthy and erected
in 1966 (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
1123b. Detail of cross on Crossbarry Ambush Memorial, present day, sculpted by Terry McCarthy and erected in 1966 (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
It is true to say that Bishop Lucey Park has served this city well since 1985.
It’s been 36 years since the park has been revisited as a whole.
The site has always been in flux with interesting ideas on the nature of Cork’s urbanity.
Delving into a site biography of the park site and one can see old seventeenth and eighteenth century maps of the city showcasing the structural legacies of an alms house and a school associated with Christ Church – so the site initially was space of helping citizens and one of education.
Fastforward to the mid-twentieth century and the demolishing of such buildings created an open sore in the heart of the city.
The additional decision in the 1970s to build Cork’s first public carpark on the site was deemed a constructive one at the time but was bound up with the city’s struggle to cope with increased cars and the demand for car parks.
But it was the city’s University archaeologists that put Cork Corporation thinking on another track in a very short time.
The excavation in the late 1970s by the late Dermot Twohig showcased what stories lay beneath the old school and almshouse. It was the first urban excavation in Cork City.
Finding timber tree trunks as foundational supports for medieval housing, collapsed fourteenth century wattle walls and full to the brim timber lined pits with shells and associated objects re-ignited an interest in the city’s medieval and resilient past.
The dept of archaeological work completed in the 1980s can be viewed in the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society in Cork City Library and online.
That coupled with various local historians, the late Sylvester O’Sullivan, who was the Corporation’s autobiographer of the history of its officials and engineers, and of course the late Seán Pettit, amongst others in the hallowed halls of UCC’s history department, who wrote at length newspaper articles and conducted walking tours, and who put public pressure on the Corporation Cllrs and the officials to create something more beneficial than a car park on the site.
And credit needs to be given to our predecessors in 1984 and 1985 for their vision and their re-interpretation of what was a derelict site and for taking a risk with it. Indeed, their risk in creating Cork 800 – the celebration of Cork’s being granted its first urban charter in 1985 – was one that laid many foundations across many arts and cultural fields and left our generation many positive cultural legacies especially in the fields of heritage, music and dance in the present day.
The centre piece of the celebrations was to be a new inner city public park. Majority support was expressed in the Council chamber for its name Bishop Lucey, who had just passed away – and was widely acknowledged for his work on the creation of the city’s rosary churches and associated community centre infrastructure and in the creation of the Credit Union system in Cork.
Of course when it came to laying out the park, the experience of the city’s archaeologists came to bear as foundations of the town wall were discovered. Indeed, such experience is very apparent in an interview with Maurice Hurley, consultant archaeologist at the time who spoke to RTE news – a piece of which is now archived online – when he went through the finds on the site, the nature of the town wall discovery and called for a larger museum for the city.
The City was also blessed to have Tony McNamara, City Architect, working in the city at the time – his re-engaging with the old cornmarket gates at City Hall and finding them a home at the entrance to Bishop Lucey Park as is thanks due to the vision of other City hall officials over the years, who gathered sculptures such as Seamus Murphy’s Onion Seller and plaques to the men of the 1798 rebellion and in more recent years the boxing wall memorial plaques.
One also needs to nod to the wider environs and the infrastructure work that has gone on there – the widening of the Grand Parade project, the re-orientation of Berwick Fountain, and the reputed seventeenth century canon.
Indeed, not only has Bishop Lucey Park served this city well over its 35 years – this little park has served as an inspirational platform for conversations on dereliction, environmental and greening challenges, well-bring, public art, incorporation of archaeological finds, conservation and preservation of urban memories and stories – to name but a few – but above all it is a little oasis in a busy city, which adds immensely to the heart of the city’s beating sense of place and identity. It is a place to be cherished and minded going forward. It has given the city so much over its 35 years but also the wider site has a long heritage of a number of centuries.
My thanks to Tony Duggan and his team for his work on our re-interpretation in the present day, and look forward to see the re-animation of Bishop Lucey Park.
More to be added at some point!
Kieran’s submission, Ref: Public Consultation, Bishop Lucey Park Regeneration Project, 16 August 2021
Dear City Architect’s Office,
I wish to warmly welcome the regeneration proposals for Bishop Lucey Park and its surrounds. I outline below a number of comments;
On areas outside of the park on Tuckey Street and on South Main Street extending to South Gate Bridge, there is an opportunity to demarcate archaeology reference points through lining perhaps or other different coloured road surface material – e.g. the original width of Medieval South Main Street, the old drawbridge tower on the South Main Street side of South Gate Bridge, or at Keyser’s Hill.
Within Bishop Lucey Park, the Pavilion feature is welcome plus it would be great to have info panels in it on the surviving town wall section. The 1985 Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society archaeology report on the town wall section by Maurice Hurley should be revisited and possible ideas of artwork and symbolism gleamed from it.
It would be great if the tower feature on the South Main Street side could be moved to the Grand Parade side – it would be great to mark the site of Hopewell Castle, the walled town turret, which in modern day terms existed at the Grand Parade side of the former Christ Church lane. The rectangular foundations of the tower were exposed in preparation works for the park in 1984 but were destroyed inadvertently.
I have an open mind on the current Cork 800 fountain site within the park. The core part of it really are the eight swans, which represent 800 years since Cork’s first charter. There is an opportunity, I feel, to create a new sculptural piece, which would not take up as much space as the large fountain and the eight swans could be incorporated into the new sculpture. Such a sculpture could also bring together the existing plaques in the park together – boxing memorials, 1798 memorial, and even Seamus Murphy’s Onion Seller sculpture.
Such latter clustering of heritage assets, perhaps next to the window ruins of Lyons Clothing Factory, may free up more public realm space – in particular helping to create more of an effective greening strategy for the park itself.
