Category Archives: Lord Mayor’s Work

Building Communities Together, Six Months In, The Echo, 22 December 2023

Arts, Climate Action, Cork City Events, Cork History, Enterprise, European Work, Improve Your Life, International, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Lord Mayor's Work, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized, Ward Development, Ward Events

Dear Corkonian, as you read this I am at my half way mark in my term as Lord Mayor of Cork. So far it has been a great adventure since my term began in late June this year. As a chronicler of Cork’s history, there is one thing researching Cork, but there is another when one becomes part of its story board, and one gets to wear the 236-year old Mayoralty chain every day and become Cork’s ambassador. The chain has been witness to many stories across time and the urban space of Cork.

My days have been filled with meeting groups across many thematic communities in Cork – from sporting to general community groups to the business community. On average, there are seven to eight events to attend a day – so 35 to 40 events a week is easily the average. So, todate there have been just over 850 events attended in the first six months of my office. The diary is time-managed, curated and packed solid with meetings and opportunities. Days are long but the meeting experiences are very interesting and very enjoyable.

In my first six months, the chain has been witness to all of my key activities, from representing the city in meeting President Michael D Higgins to playing a diplomatic role in hosting Ambassadors from various countries to being head of delegation of the sister city twinning meeting with the Mayor of Shanghai and his various departments from health to culture.

On the ground in Cork it has been important to me to promote local economic development, to highlight the City Council’s work programmes from housing to roads mobility and parks works programmes, to highlighting the history and heritage of our city through the Council’s decade of commemoration programmes, to highlighting arts and culture in the guise of the new urban sculpture trail or through the Community Heritage Concert and Christmas Gala Concert in aid of key charities in our city.

It has been fun and important to actively participate in and showcase festivals such as the Pride Festival and Cork International Film Festival and helping lead this year’s edition of the Dragon of Shandon, platforming the importance of climate action and projects such as community gardens, hosting charities and giving them a space to chat about their work in City Hall. There has been lots of showcasing Cork’s sporting events including honouring our Cork camogie teams. In truth the list of activities is long. And sometimes, there also has been a song along the way.

It has also been an honour to formally open new pedestrian and cycle bridges such as Vernon Mount and mark the completion of public realm works such as MacCurtain Street. To be able to showcase their immediate and surrounding histories and memories has been a privilege.

The 118-school visit programme left me humbled, emotional, and exhausted from a rollercoaster of meeting so many young people on mass but also full of great memories for years to come. To meet the bones of over 35,000 dynamic young people or Cork’s up and coming generation, complete with teachers and principals of city schools, is one of the largest projects on democracy development each Lord Mayor takes on every year. One of my core reflections was that Cork City is very fortunate with a generation coming through that is curious, dynamic, diverse, unique, enthusiastic and ‘up for the match’ to be the next guardians of what we as Corkonians are proud to call home.

I created a social media film series called Voices of Cork, which gives voice to some of the people I have met. My social media encompasses the hashtag Got Cork and WeareCork and ProudofCork, which is also my continued focus on all things positive that Cork people engage and promote.

For me as well, showcasing the voices of different communities matter. Whereas, the daily themes could be diverse from each other, all of the groups I meet are pursuing an aspect of importance to Cork’s DNA and its evolving development. All of the groups are everything that is great about our City – its sense of caring, its sense of place, its sense of pride, its sense of frankness and honesty, its sense of identity, its sense of camaraderie, its sense of life affirmation. Such groups are writing the best version of the city’s evolving story.

All of the groups pack an enormous punch to the heart by bringing people together who volunteer to carve out and create a space for the common good. It is not random that the Latin motto on the city’s coat of arms is Statio Bene Fida Carinis or translated as a Safe Harbour for Ships. However, after the first six months I am of the view that the motto could also be interpreted a safe harbour for people or safe place for people.

Such groups have spent years supporting the city or a specific neighbourhood. They are hard grafters, who are intrinsic to the future of many people’s lives, the important moments in people’s lives. ideas of hope and solidarity, and what I call saving people’s souls. They create incredible special moments of human connection. That tenacity and vision needs to be noted – the holding firm needs to be noted. As a city we need to rejoice and embrace in such a vision.

Such communities of people are genuinely interested in connecting people together, and supporting and helping each other. Building stronger communities brings more opportunities to talk, share, support each other. and to learn.

A more connected community builds a stronger community for everyone in our city. In the world, we find ourselves, supporting each other matters more than ever before. Togetherness matters more so than ever before. What the communities stand for matters more than ever before. These elements of Cork’s DNA need to be minded carefully as the city moves forward into the future.

One cannot buy that energy or connection but it is so important to have in a city such as Cork whose heart when it comes to social and cultural capital beats very passionately.

So, there are lots of moments to reflect upon in the first six months. Sincere thanks to Lady Mayoress Marcelline and Finbarr Archer, Nicola O’Sullivan and Rose Fahy in the Lord Mayor’s office as well as the team in Corporate Affairs ably led by Paul Moynihan, and Chief Executive Anne Doherty, for their partnership, curation of activities, story board creation, support and advice over the past six months.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 21 December 2023

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Lord Mayor's Work, Uncategorized
1233a. Thomas Dowdall, c.1923 (picture: Dowdall family archive).
1233a. Thomas Dowdall, c.1923 (picture: Dowdall family archive).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 21 December 2023

Recasting Cork: Cork Corporation in Question

In early December 1923, at a meeting of the municipal ratepayers of the Cork Progressive Association, Mr Thomas P Dowdall presided with many prominent ratepayers present.

The Cork Examiner on 10 December 1923 outlined that Mr Dowdall, chairman, expressed his content at seeing so many large ratepayers present. The meeting was summoned because the Cork Progressive Association felt that the condition of affairs regarding the Corporation of Cork’s expenditure was a cause of concern. It was not a question of the amount expended. The ratepayers were being called together with the aim of putting a proposition before the Irish Free State government calling for a more efficient city administration space or a better value for money. According to Mr Dowdall, if the resolution was accepted it would be forwarded to government.

Mr Dowdall noted that the municipal rates had gone up, but there had been no increase in the operation expenditure of the Corporation or acknowledgment of the increased cost of living. He deemed the expenditure was excessive and the value obtained was unsatisfactory.

Mr Dowdall asked for a letter from the Postmaster General JJ Walsh to be read. In it Mr Walsh  articulated that he was glad to learn that the Progressive Association was determined to strongly support the large task of municipal reform. He outlaid that different people have different views on this important subject and it is only after a number of experiments that the best results would accrue. He admitted that the then system of control through the medium of big and unwieldy popular bodies left much to be improved upon.

Mr Walsh continued in in his letter with his criticism of the executive officers and the condition of the city; “This ability on the part of responsible executive officers to enforce discipline is mainly responsible for the shameful condition of the city. There is no use shirking the fact that the ratepayers are bled white through rates and are getting very poor value for their money… no friend of the city’s welfare can promise such a state of affairs to continue without feeling personal acquiescence in the grave injustice to the physical well-being of the citizens, as well as to the city’s trade and commerce. A smart, well-kept city must necessarily not only attract visitors, and therefore trade, but will inevitably elevate the whole outlook of its people. I see no prospect whatever of such development with the present municipal government”.

The JJ Walsh letter persisted in his argument that the system itself required such a radical overhauling that nothing else done than appointing for a limited time of three or four “sharp, independent and energetic businessmen with practically unlimited powers can save the situation”. He believed that the time had come for those “who pay the piper should call the tune”, and insist on value for money.

On taking the floor, John Callaghan Foley proposed the resolution; “Owing to the excessive rates and the inefficient and wasted administration of the public services of the city or the present Corporation, we call upon the government to hold an immediate inquiry into the existing system of the municipal administration and to report on the changes necessary in order to secure an efficient and progressive city government by Commission or other ways, pending the complete reform of Irish local government. That copies of this resolution be sent to President Cosgrave, the president of the local government department and the representatives of the city”.

Sir Stanley Harrington, in seconding, said that the resolution had been put and what he deemed in a “very acceptable form”. He noted that it did not actually call for the abolition of the Corporation but asked for an inquiry into its administration; “It is not necessary to get into a state of excitement over municipal matters nor do we want to be in any way personal and dealing with what is the matter administration of the body corporate…there are some excellent members in that body and some excellent officials employed by them, but unfortunately those gentlemen were powerless owing to the very bad system that seemed to be obtaining the affairs of the Corporation…there is general universal demand that something ought to be done. The rates are pressing heavy on the people even on the largest firms and what could instance hundreds of cases of waste and bad administration”.

Mr J J Horgan argued that the Corporation of Cork had long overstayed their term, and that had been a strong factor in the expenditure concern. He noted they had also gone through a very difficult and trying period from the War of Independence and the Civil War, and there was the challenge of apathy amongst the general public too. He opined that every local government body in Ireland was three times too large and that the best administration they could get was from an independent committee of one. He continued that Ireland had a lot to learn from America in municipal affairs and that there a small Commission and three or four paid members dealt efficiently with municipal affairs.

The resolution was passed and was to set 1924 up as the year the Corporation would fall and an administrator in the guise of Philip Monahan appointed.

Happy Christmas to everyone and many thanks for the support during the year.

Kieran’s new book The A-Z of Curious County Cork is available in good Cork bookshop.

Caption:

1233a. Thomas Dowdall, c.1923 (picture: Dowdall family archive).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 14 December 2023

Cork History, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, Lord Mayor's Work, Uncategorized
1232a. Pamphlet for Irish Free State National Loan, Winter 1923 (picture: National Library, Dublin).
1232a. Pamphlet for Irish Free State National Loan, Winter 1923 (picture: National Library, Dublin).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 14 December 2023

Recasting Cork: The Free State National Loan

In the midst of newspapers such as the Cork Examiner in late November and early December 1923, there are several advertisements on the benefits of subscribing to the Irish Free State National Loan. Based on British War Stock loan methodologies, Irish people were asked to invest their savings in a scheme, which would also give a return on investment.

Westminster reports from one hundred years ago reveal that as a result of the First World War and its costly financial measures, between 1913/14 and 1918/19, government spending escalated more than 12-fold to £2.37bn. Much of this was almost wholly due to military outlays. Over this time, tax revenue did quadruple, but war debt was required to make up the balance. The debt grew from around 25% of GDP to 125% in four short years.

Rooted in the narrative of a sense of duty the Westminster government appealed for support , The attraction to invest was through an offer of an attractive profit on the bonds. Historic reports outline that initially, the government offered 4.1%, well above the 2.5% payable on other government debt at the time. War bonds were loans where principal was to be repaid after ten years. Ensuing war financings would contribute to investors an even higher premium – including the enormous War Loan of 1917 which created  £2bn by offering a immense return of 5.4%. Such a yield appealed to individuals, businesses and local authorities.

One of the local authorities was the Corporation of Cork. Indeed, on 1 December 1923, at a meeting of Cork Corporation, the Town Clerk, Mr William Hegarty brought to the Council meeting the question of advisability of transferring the amounts of money that the Corporation had invested in British War Stock into the Irish Free State National Loan, which was open for subscriptions. The Corporation had £37,379 3s 2d invested in five per cent British War Stock and £9,015 13s 0d in four per cent stock British War Stock. If it was the intention of members to transfer such a sum to the National Loan, it could be done at a meeting of the Town Council. William Hegarty noted that such a transfer would yield an increase of £1,870 on the amount of money invested.

William Hegarty also outlined that the Corporation’s British War Loan was to be redeemable in the years 1929 and 1949 respectively. The Corporation had already made £6-£7 per share profit on such an investment. Mr Hegarty also noted that when applying for grants it would also be an advantage of the Corporation to have their money invested in the Free State National Loan project.

Council member Mr J Horgan noted that the Council would be unanimous on the transfer to the National Loan; “When subscriptions were sought for the British War Loan the people of England rushed in with their money to stand by their country when that country was threatened with danger from outside. Now the Irish people had a loan to save their country and themselves and it was the duty of every single individual in the Free State to keep on making that loan a success. It was their duty to do so, and to prove to the world that they had not only confidence in their country but that they were prepared to back that confidence by pounds, shillings and pence”.

Mr Horgan continued that he hoped, and he was sure, that the National Loan would be oversubscribed. He also articulated that the citizens of Cork would be pleased if the Corporation would transfer the money in question to the National Loan and it would be the advantage of the country, the Corporation, and its citizens to take such action. He continued that the business people of the South had already shown their confidence by subscribing liberally to the loan. In the weeks that followed the Corporation made the transfer of funds from their British War Stock to Irish Free State National Loan.

Mr Horgan’s general sentiment of public support had also been expressed at a meeting of the Cork Progressive Association two days earlier on 28 November 1923. JJ Walsh TD and Postmaster remarked that there had been an excellent response to the National Loan; “This applied not only to people of property, such as the farming and shopkeeper community, whose business must necessarily receive a stimulus because of the greater circulation of money in those elements of the population, upon which they depend for a market, but also, and still more important the fact the honest unemployed man will at last get an opportunity of earning the wherewithal to support himself and his family”.

The public as well as small and big enterprises also took an interest in the National Loan. For example, the Cork Examiner lists a sum of £20,000 from Messrs Dwyer and Co, on behalf of themselves and their employees, was subscribed to the National Loan.

Initially a national loan of £10 million was successfully floated in Dublin. The loan was over-subscribed by £200,000 giving a vote of confidence to the Government and its financial management. 

Kieran’s new book The A-Z of Curious County Cork is available in good Cork bookshop.

Caption:

1232a. Pamphlet for Irish Free State National Loan, Winter 1923 (picture: National Library, Dublin).

Kieran’s Lord Mayor’s Column, The Echo, 9 December 2023

Climate Action, Cork City Events, Cork History, Enterprise, Grants, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Lord Mayor's Work, Uncategorized

The Power of Place:

They say that stories have the power to stop, impress, make one question, make one wonder, make one dream, make one remember, make one be disturbed, make one explore and make one forget – a whole series of emotions. In a historic city such as Cork, one could easily say that such emotions run rampant in approaching all aspects of the city’s stories.

Indeed, the more one studies the vast narratives at play in Cork City, the more they pull you in to study them more. The more they pull you in the more one gets under the skin of our historic city, one becomes even more enamoured by the rake of very interesting narratives, which created our beautiful city.

There were two events at which I recently spoke at and launched, which re-connected the relevant areas back to their history.

A Bridge Through History, Vernon Mount Bridge:

There has been much anticipation for and much looking forward to the opening of the pedestrian and cycling Vernon Mount bridge for many years – mainly down to the dedication, ambition and vision of the immediate community in Grange in particular on the northern ridge here.

Indeed, much of the call for a new connecting bridge has also been bound up with the strong sense of pride and place in the area and the need to renew and reconnect the sense of pride and the sense of place up physically and symbolically to nearby neighbourhoods.   

There is now a new bridge now re-connecting the proud neighbourhoods of Grange to the proud neighbourhoods of Ballyphehane and Douglas and Turners Cross. In the past, before the motorway was connected up you could wander across the Tramore Valley river plain across the many historic and informal human pathways.

Indeed, where the bridge is located there are many stories, embedded in the local landscape – the story of Ballyphehane townland, where Tramore Valley Park stands. Baile an Feitheáin stands for the townland of the sharp grass or marshland; the story of the public commons land on this swamp in the eighteenth century; the story of the sailcloth factory, which created Douglas village in the early eighteenth century; the creation of the beautiful Vermon Mount House and estate by the Hayes family; in the mid nineteenth century, the story of the adjacent Cork Union Workhouse; in the late nineteenth century, the advent of the two railway lines Cork Macroom Railway Line and the Cork Bandon Line and how they were built on raised platforms through one side of the swamp.

In the early twentieth century, one has the story of the Irish War of Independence and the volunteer training that went on here and the story of the Civil War executions near here; the stories of recreation of wandering, hunting and courting out here in the twentieth century; to the story of the traveller community; the story of the landfill from the 1970s for over 40 years, the creation of Tramore Valley Park and in our time the Creative Ireland Kinship programme, which explores our connection to the natural environment here through artist and community participation.

Several of the locations around the new Vernon Mount Bridge possess a strong sense of character, sentimentality, place and belonging, symbolic ownership and are a source of inspiration. Cork people deem such sites as being appealing, timeless, ancestral, eternal, enshrined or sacred in conjuring and summoning a sense of place.

A Street Through Time, MacCurtain Street:

Similarly the recent completion of the revamp of McCurtain Street allows us to take back in for the first time in many decades, through widened footpaths in particular, the array histories, heritage and memories and champion MacCurtain Street’s rich sense of place. street is in the history, heritage and memory of the city and how it connects to the overarching sense and power of place.

The historical DNA of this corner of the work of Cork is rooted in the story of an emerging in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries where the city was branding itself as one of the Venices of the North and the Athens of Ireland in terms of cultural output.

When the Corporation of Cork the time invested in planning St Patrick’s Bridge in 1787 it opened up this quarter for development. The 1790s coincided with the creation of St Patrick’s Hill – a hill-up avenue from Bridge Street, which aligned with an old windmill, the foundation of which is now incorporated into Audley House. The decade also coincided with an early MacCurtain Street– back then known as Strand Street and later King Street, named after MP Robert King in Mitchelstown House. The earliest eighteenth buildings can still be seen at the western side of the street.

One by one, some of Cork’s greatest architectural structures were added to the area. Between 1801 and 1832 Summerhill North built as well a new myriad of new residences; in 1855, the Cork Dublin Terminus & tunnel opened – the tunnel in its day one of the major features of engineering in western Europe and part of plethora of railway networks beginning to appear in Western Europe. In 1861, Trinity Presbyterian Church was opened at the foot of Summerhill.

In the 1880s, the former Ogilive and Dobbin Wholesaler buildings were revealed and are now the Greene’s Restaurant and Isaac’s Hotel complex. About the same time, the elaborate twelve-bay five-storey structure building, which hosted Thompson’s Bakery emerged as well as the seven bay three storey Victoria Buildings.  In 1892, the Baptist Church building was opened. In 1897, Dan Lowry opened the building as a luxurious new theatre called The Cork Palace of Varieties.

It was the energy of all those sites that led to the development by the brothers Stuart and Thomas Musgrave of the Metropole Hotel, designed by Arthur Hill in 1897. The prospectus for the hotel in 1897 sold its luxuriousness and embraced the brand of modernity – a modern hotel for a city of modern vitality.

The Coliseum Cinema opened in September 1913. By the time the street name changed in April 1920 from King Street to commemorate the then recently martyred Lord Mayor Tomás MacCurtain, the modern street had emerged with an enormous array of services but also a set of buildings with diverse functions and narratives.

Of course, I haven’t mentioned the people involved in creating these sites and their background and ambition. I haven’t mentioned the architects, the business people, the old families, the old shops, all of which we can gleam from old street directories or even legacies of great musicians like Rory Gallagher immortalised in this historic premises.

MacCurtain Street is full of places of tradition, of continuity, change and legacy, of ambition and determination, experiences and learning, of ingenuity and innovation, places of nostalgia and memories, places that are cherished and remembered with fondness. All such places, Cork needs to mind in its future as well.

Third round of public consultation on the Sustainable Transport Corridors for Cork

Climate Action, Cork City Events, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Lord Mayor's Work, Uncategorized, Ward Development

Third round of public consultation on the Sustainable Transport Corridors for Cork

The National Transport Authority has launched the third round of public consultation on the Sustainable Transport Corridors earmarked for development as part of the BusConnects Cork programme.

The latest round of public consultation centres on the Preferred Route Options which have been identified. These preferred route options brochures are available to view and download below. This comes following the first round of public consultation on the Emerging Preferred Routes between April and June 2023.

Following the first and second rounds of public consultation, the NTA has been reviewing the submissions made by the public and engaging constructively with 35 residents’ , business and special interest groups across the city. Community Forums were also established for each corridor to enable a two-way dialogue with local communities to help inform the review process.

The closing date for submissions is Monday, 18 December 2023

View here now: Sustainable Transport Corridors | Busconnects

Lord Mayor’s Column, 24 November 2023

Cork City Events, Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Lord Mayor's Work, Uncategorized

Christmas in Cork:

Christmas is an annual stroll down memory lane. It is part of our heritage – our way of life. The ghosts of Christmas pasts are religiously recalled as we prepare to be locked in a type of time warp for a fortnight or so. There are other memories that I can remember – the joy of the school holidays. The dark evenings sitting in the back of the car as my mother collected my Dad from work on St Patrick’s Street or Pana. I remember being taken back by the magical, transforming and bright Christmas lights on the narrow Oliver Plunkett Street. From the safety of the car, I also remember the blustery Atlantic winds and the wintry rain as it dislodged Corkonians in their shopping path.

I remember the Christmas trees on the streets and the Crib in the centre of Pana guarded annually by Share supporters. I can recall the huge crowds hoping over the central rails of the street to get to the other side of the street as if the railings provided an annual workout for our jaywalking Cork citizens.

I remember going to Ballyvolane Shopping Centre, when it initially opened and visiting Santa – those were the days, those wonderful and magical Christmases filled with Santa and the associated photos inset in the family photo albums. I remember my father bringing us to see Santa Claus The Movie in the old Capital Cinema.

The panto in the opera House was annually frequented. The opening bars of the entracte transported one to another world. Dames like Billa O’Connell brought me along in the story – you believed – you watched in awe as the battle between good and evil took place and then everyone lived happily afterwards.

Have my childhood memories changed in 35 years? Do I still get inspired and re-inspired. Yep I still do.  It’s difficult not to be re-awakened by Christmas, that season of specialness. Once the street Christmas lights are turned on, the city seems to buzz with anticipation.

The preparation begins weeks before the 25 December and with growing commercialisation gets earlier every year. Contrasting against all that goes with that debate, the Crib on St Patrick’s Street gets pride of place and reminds one of a fortress surrounded by Share collectors who spread out over the city centre engaging Corkonians.

Prepping for Christmas:

This year is no different in Cork in the build-up to Christmas. At the recent launch of Corkmas, I was particularly delighted to see familiar faces from the city’s hospitality, retail and cultural sector as they actually are ‘Christmas in Cork’. They are the smiling faces that welcome us into crowded hotel lobbies and restaurants in the frenzied days before Christmas and the people who patiently advise us as we scurry to find a last minute present for that awkward relative. They are the creatives and makers who nourish our souls at the plethora of pantomimes, music, arts and cultural events that will be staged in the coming weeks.

Christmas in Cork is also all about food, drink and people. It’s about trying to hit the English Market early in the morning so the crowds will be less and then realising everyone thought similarly. It is about catching up with friends and family for food and drinks, promising to make a bigger effort next year and then promptly forgetting the minute you hop on the bus home

It is about bumping into old class and college mates that you haven’t seen in years, and even if you didn’t particularly know them, spending 10 heart-filled minutes catching up on each other’s lives. It’s about spiced beef, warmth, spontaneity, glittering lights, laughter, it’s about Christmas traditions, both new and old.

For the city’s traders, artists and creatives and particularly during the current cost of living crisis and in the face of growing online shopping, the last quarter of the year is often a  ‘make or break’ period. The season often provides them with a crucial buffer that supports them to keep trading and creating through far more challenging times of the year. 

Launching Corkmas:

With this in mind, Cork City Council, working with local creative agency, Babelfís -and having engaged with yourselves- has created the ‘Corkmas’ campaign aimed at firstly encouraging people to think sustainably by supporting local and  secondly celebrating, discovering, and re-discovering the many experiences and traditions, new and old, that make Christmas time in Cork so unique.

As well the iconic ferris wheel on Grand Parade, this year Corkmas introduces a wonderful new winter light experience in the city centre, SOLAS – which I will invite you to experience with me in a few minutes. The SOLAS light and sound experience will run every day of the week until 21 December, from 4pm to 11pm daily. 

On top of that every weekend from 24 November, SOLAS will be a hub of family friendly fun, musical performances, Christmas singalongs and festive entertainment. Many thanks to Fáilte Ireland’s for their support of the SOLAS winter light experience.

Over seven kilometres of lights are being turned on across city streets and 60 Christmas trees lit up by Cork City Council, Cork Business Association (working with traders) and also by independent outlets.

Over the coming days and weeks you will see Corkmas in public spaces, across media (both traditional and digital) and in a campaign with Red FM at Cork Airport to promote the city’s offering to people coming home and to visitors.

A new map, which beautifully illustrates the festive activities taking place across the ‘magical city of Corkmas’, encourages people to get further details on these varied seasonal events at corkmas.ie. Corkmas has been created to better support, amplify and market what activities there are and striving for a unified voice.

This is only the beginning of Corkmas. It’s a campaign and festive programme that will be built upon in the coming years so that Cork ultimately becomes a destination during the festive season.

So what are you waiting for, Christmas is what you make it no matter what age you are at. Get out and re-witness your youth in the city. Look to the skies and perhaps who will re-awaken your imagination and see a team of reindeer pulling a sleigh with a red suited bloke pushing onwards through the Cork sky…

Check out www.corkmas.ie

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 23 November 2023

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Lord Mayor's Work, Uncategorized
1129a. John Ger O'Riordan and Aodh Quinlivan, authors of First Citizen, Sean French, Cork’s Longest-Serving Lord Mayor (picture: John Tyner, UCC).
1129a. John Ger O’Riordan and Aodh Quinlivan, authors of First Citizen, Sean French, Cork’s Longest-Serving Lord Mayor (picture: John Tyner, UCC).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 23 November 2023

Launch of First Citizen – Sean French, Cork’s Longest-Serving Lord Mayor

The life and times of Seán French – a 12-term Lord Mayor of Cork, councillor and TD – has now been recorded in a great new publication called First Citizen, Sean French, Cork’s Longest-Serving Lord Mayor. For many years Seán’s life has just been reduced in history to a few words and sentences. However, this new book by Dr Aodh Quinlivan and John Ger O’Riordan has done a superb job in rescuing the memory of Seán from being on the reductive history heap in Cork history and in capturing the everyday life of local politics in early twentieth century Cork. The book is rich in historical detail and there is much to learn from reading it from a citizen perspective and from a local politician or public representative perspective.

 Firstly, the A team, of Aodh and John Ger, have once again pursued a fantastic job in reading between the lines of narratives in old newspapers, old Cork Corporation documentation, government reports and the conversations within debates within the City Council Chamber. They offer lenses in understanding the holistic perspectives of Council topics and that it not an easy task on many occasions to follow one line of logic when there is a multitude of other perspectives feeding into a debate. Indeed, the research methodologies Aodh and John Ger have developed over many years now can be adapted to other potential research projects on the history of Local Government in Ireland and further afield.

            Secondly Aodh and John Ger’s focus on Seán French reveals the character of a local politician who never gave up on his early political beliefs and on Cork. Those who have championed Cork in the past for the most part do not get a look in despite the multitude of books and newspapers charting Cork history. So, this publication is another welcome addition in revisiting and renewing forgotten narratives in Cork’s past.

            In his early years being a sportsman and a person with a good sense of humour gave Seán a strategic foundation and a caring mind – first showcased in establishing his own pharmacy business and then running in the 1920 local elections. Securing of a seat on the City’s historic council chamber Seán carved himself out as a voice for the underprivilege high cost of living in the city and horrendous slum conditions.

 In Seán’s early months in the council chamber it coincided with the deaths of two Lord Mayors – Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney and a War of Independence spilling out across the streets of the city – and culminating in the Burning of Cork in December 1920 and the destruction of the city’s house of democracy in the shape of Cork City Hall. Such latter and tragic stories would affect the way historians of Cork would tell the story of Cork for the ensuing century to come.

            Seán pursued his work on several sub committees of Cork Corporation with deep interest becoming a quasi-expert almost in topics such as local government finance, public works, social housing and technical education. Indeed, this book relates how much he was at the forefront of subcommittee work and how much he pushed for work to be pursued and work practices to be amended in many cases, and his diligent passion for evidence and forensic detail.

On Seán’s accession to being Lord Mayor of Cork on 30 January 1924 he delivered a short acceptance speech, stressing that improving and progressing Cork had to be the primary duty of all of the elected members. He stated that he had always stayed true to his ideals and that would not change.

However, the nature of politics within the emerging Irish Free State led to a heightened public expectation for improved services and the modernisation of Ireland’s cities, towns and villages – and ultimately the nature of how Local Government did its work had to change. In particular Seán politically led the city in a time of large scale physical and large scale societal change.Even a politician like Seán French could not stop the tides of change, which swept through Cork in the 1920s. It is always argued that a week is a long time in politics – no mind several years – and the authors describe the backdrop of Seán’s world in detail. The decades of 1920s and 1930s Cork is showcased here and this book even sets up further frameworks for further narratives to be researched and written about.

It worth keeping in mind that Lord Mayor Seán French bore witness to everything from the dissolution of Cork Corporation in 1924, to a new City Manager in the form of Philip Monahan, a new City survey plan, an energetic Cork Progressive Association of commercial individuals, clearing some of the city’s worst slum conditions, new social housing in suburbs like Turners Cross and Gurranabraher, the re-opening of St Patrick’s Street with a brand new modern look, to the closure of the historic Cork Butter Market, to the expansion of Fords and Dunlops, to the creation of new cinemas like the Pavilion and Savoy, to investment by the ESB in Ireland’s cities, to the creation of new tourism projects for the Cork region and all the way to the Cork Industrial and Agricultural Fair in 1932 and even the opening of the popular Lee Baths in 1934 – to name but a few more iconic moments in 1920s and early 1930s Cork.

As a third and final note, one can argue that this book is also an ode in its own way to all former Lord Mayors of Cork and councillors who have stood up on the Council Chamber floor to add their commentary to debates on the challenges and opportunities for city of Cork throughout the years. Indeed, reading even more between the lines of this book, one can see history repeating itself and connecting into the present day.

First Citizen, Sean French, Cork’s Longest-Serving Lord Mayor by Dr Aodh Quinlivan and John Ger O’Riordan is available in Waterstones and Vibes and Scribes.

Caption:

1129a. John Ger O’Riordan and Aodh Quinlivan, authors of First Citizen, Sean French, Cork’s Longest-Serving Lord Mayor (picture: John Tyner, UCC).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 16 November 2023

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Lord Mayor's Work, Uncategorized
1128a. Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Kieran McCarthy with Cllr Michael Looney and Colm Burke, TD with members of Inniscarra Historical Society, October 2023 (picture: F Archer).
1128a. Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Kieran McCarthy with Cllr Michael Looney and Colm Burke, TD with members of Inniscarra Historical Society, October 2023 (picture: F Archer).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 16 November 2023

Launch of Inniscarra Historical Society Journal 2023

The latest journal of Inniscarra Historical Society, Changing Times, has been published and is available in shops throughout Inniscarra. The society was formed in 2017 and has published four journals now to date. Their aim is to further the gathering of historical data and to promote an interest and awareness of local history amongst their members. The 2023 committee consists of Patrick O’Callaghan, Frank Donaldson, David O’ Brien, Kathleen Flynn, Joseph Ambrose and John Lane. Membership is open to all for an annual subscription of only 10 euros. 

A monthly presentation is held on a topic of local history. They organise bus trips to places of historical interest. A selection of their talks in the last year included Con Hayes – The Lusitania Tragedy, Professor Robert Devoy – Historic landscapes of West Cork, the geographical imperatives, Anne Twomey – The Role of Women in Revolutionary Years, and Richard Forrest – Modest Martin, The history of a local mid-Cork river.

In this year’s journal, there are a number of very insightful articles, which range from topics such as histories of Inniscarra’s townlands to cemeteries to census reports to reminiscences of growing up in the parish.

For example Sinéad McSweeney shines a light on Cloughphilip, which translates as the ‘stone house of Philip, was home to a castle, a tower house castle constructed several years after the completion of Blarney Castle. She notes that these tower house castles were built in the style of a square or nearly square tower; “Window sizes were usually very small, due to the fact that in the time of siege warfare, attackers would try to mount the castle with ladders to gain entry. Sometime in the late 1500’s the castle came into the ownership of Donagh MacCarthy who left his mark on the castle with his initials D. C. K., and the year 1590 carved a stone set into an internal wall”.

Sinéad also reveals an interesting letter in 1850 addressed to the Royal Irish Academy from a Richard Caulfield, states that he came across the stone head for Cloughphilip Castle. The writer was deeply concerned because people were searching the castle ruins, and beneath it, digging for gold which was rumoured to be buried there. Caulfield describes the inscription on a stone in the north-east of the castle “D. C. K. 1590” which is at least one-hundred years after the castle was supposedly built.’ Unfortunately, there is no drawing or etching of Cloughphilip castle that survives, or a photograph of the castle ruins.

Colm O’Sullivan highlights the contribution of the O’Sullivan family, Bartholomew Sullivan’s son, James Bartholomew (known as Jimmy Batt, died 1829) having branched from his father’s business at Healy’s Bridge, set up his own paper mill at Dripsey around 1800. He employed hundreds of workers but went bankrupt and he had to restart the business on a number of occasions. The introduction of modern machinery resulted in a negative reaction from the workers who apparently started a fire at the mill in protest at the threat to their jobs. That fire and the economic downturn after the Napoleonic Wars resulted in the mills being sold off in the mid to late 1810s. It would seem that the Sullivan family continued to live in Dripsey for some years before moving to Cork City.

Michael Dorney contributes a very insightful article on antiquities in the Inniscarra locality. In particular Historically, Ireland and indeed Inniscarra was famous for having outdoor roadside grottos or Marian shrines, (shrines to the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Rosary). Nobody cant for any distance in Ireland without coming across a roadside shrine. Vast majority are Marian Shrines, although some celebrate local saints or the crucifixion of Christ.

Michael continues to highlight: “In spite of the documented drift away from organised religion that has taken place over the past few decades, these shrines are attended in small groups for regular rosary, praying and adoration. These shrines are almost invariably well-tended, maintained and bedecked with fresh flowers”.

Michael also outlines that some shrines are close to Holy Wells, places associated with local saints but whose origins go back to pagan times and their significance long pre datesdates the shrines themselves. Most of the grottos encountered today date from 1954, which were dedicated by the Vatican as the Marian Year, a year of celebration of and devotion to Virgin Mary.

Michael outlines the Marian devotion: “Probably no other country embraced this year with greater fervour than Ireland. Many baby girls born during 1954 were named Marian, Marion, and Mary. The tradition of devotion to Mary persisted years after 1954, albeit among ever declining number and it is today confined to an older generation. That time there was regular practice of church bells being tolled at Angelus times in honour of Our Lady”.

Still today in every parish like in Inniscarra, there is a dedicated band of local people who maintain the grottos, which have historically become part of our landscape and heritage.

Towards the end of the journal, Sinéad McSweeny returns to reflect on the story of St Ann’s Hill Hydropathic Establishment and guests wo were present as the 1901 census was taken on Sunday 31 March across the island of Ireland. The Hydropathic establishment, the only one on the island of Ireland. which accommodated a total of seventy-two people, twenty-two males and fifty females. She continues to describe an elaborate network of rooms; “The Hydro building had one hundred and twenty-three windows in the front and is most likely made up of the vastly extended original house and what was known as The Home. One hundred and one rooms were listed in this premises as being occupied the night of the census, most likely this figure included guest bedrooms and salt quarters and dormitories”.

Read more of the work of Inniscarra Historical Society at www.inniscarrahistory.com

Caption:

1128a. Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Kieran McCarthy with Cllr Michael Looney and Colm Burke, TD with members of Inniscarra Historical Society, October 2023 (picture: F Archer).

Kieran’s Lord Mayor’s Echo Column, 11 November 2023

Arts, Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Lord Mayor's Work, Uncategorized

Remember and Renew:

This year marks the final chapter of the national Decade of Centenaries commemorative programme. A wealth of material has already been produced, scores of events have taken place, and a proud legacy is being created for future generations. 

Among the aims of commemorating those remarkable men and women involved in Ireland’s struggle for independence is, of course, to remember them, to recall their contributions to Cork and Ireland, and to reflect upon their extraordinary lives. But most importantly, as our former City Librarian, Liam Ronayne, noted in the early stages of the commemoration; “what is important is the need to understand, to understand what happened and why”.

Community groups, schools and individuals have delved into their local history to produce books, plays, murals, exhibitions, podcasts, recordings and many more engagements to mark the events that happened in our city over 100 years ago. From the ashes of the Burning of Cork in 1920, through the War of Independence and Civil War 1923 we have seen our city grow and prosper to ambitious plans for our future generations.  

To finish out the national Decade of Centenaries on Thursday, 16 November, a special reflection on the decade of centenaries entitled ‘Remember and Renew’ takes place in Cork City. On the day it includes a seminar in UCC Centre for Executive Education between 2pm- 4.30pm, Lapps Quay, followed by a reception in the Atrium, City Hall. Between 5.45-6.45pm, there will be a Special Meeting of An Chomhairle in the Council Chamber, Cork City Hall, and at the Cork City Concert Hall there will be a gala concert between 7pm- 9.30pm.

The concert will be hosted by Cork Playwright Cónal Creedon & presenter Elmarie Mawe who will reflect on the Decade of Centenaries with a night of music, poetry, & film. It will feature The Band of First Brigade, The Cork Fleischmann Symphony Orchestra, Cór Chúil Aodha & Seán Ó Sé.

Launch of Commemorative Jerseys:

Meanwhile this month also coincides with an exhibition in Cork Public Museum. It features the commemorative jerseys of Cork clubs, intercounty sides and international teams with a Cork connection. All those included in the exhibit commemorated Irish revolutionary figures and / or events on their kits during the Decade of Centenaries (and in particular the period of 2016-2023).   A virtual exhibit is available to view at the Exhibitions section on the Cork City Council website A City Remembers.

Seventeen jerseys are featured in the exhibit, which will later go on display at City Library, City Hall and Páirc Uí Chaoimh, along with other Cork areas of sporting and cultural significance. The exhibit is being organised by Cork City Council, along with the help of Cork GAA and Public Museum curator, Dan Breen.

A number of jerseys included feature the images of previous Lord Mayors, Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney. Teams featured include Ballyphehane,  Béal Átha Ghaorthaidh, Brian Dillon’s, Cork Boston GFC, Delany’s, Diarmuid Ó Mathúna’s, Fermoy, Kilmichael, Na Piarsaigh, St. Vincent’s, Thomas McCurtain’s GAA club London, Valley Rovers, and Cork Intercounty. Also included in the exhibit are O’Neill’s commemorative jerseys to Michael Collins and the Easter Rising.

Cork hurlers and footballers provided a notable piece of Cork GAA history as a Rebel team took to the field wearing black jerseys for the first time in 2020. The 1916 commemoration Cork GAA original jersey in blue with a saffron ‘C’ was worn by Cork teams until 1919 when the jerseys were confiscated by the British Army in a raid during the War of Independence.

The exhibition is being co-ordinated by Cork City Council’s Commemorations working group, along with the help of Cork GAA and Public Museum curator, Dan Breen. A virtual edition of the exhibit will launch later in the year.

New Book on Seán French:

Mid-November also coincides with another Cork City Council commemoration publication. The new book is an important reflection on the life and times of Seán French – a 12-term Lord Mayor, councillor and TD. Indeed, for many years Seán’s life has just been reduced in history to a few words and sentences. This book by Dr Aodh Quinlivan and John Ger O’Riordan has done a superb job in rescuing the memory of Seán from being on the reductive history heap in Cork history and in capturing the everyday life of local politics in early twentieth century Cork. The book is rich in historical detail and there is much to learn from reading it from a citizen perspective and from a local politician or public representative perspective.

In Seán’s early months in the council chamber it coincided with the deaths of two Lord Mayors – Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney and a War of Independence spilling out across the streets of the city – and culminating in the Burning of Cork in December 1920 and the destruction of the city’s house of democracy in the shape of Cork City Hall. Such latter and tragic stories would affect the way historians of Cork would tell the story of Cork for the ensuing century to come.

On Seán’s accession to being Lord Mayor of Cork on 30 January 1924 he delivered a short acceptance speech, stressing that improving and progressing Cork had to be the primary duty of all of the elected members. He stated that he had always stayed true to his ideals and that would not change.

However, the nature of politics within the emerging Irish Free State led to a heightened public expectation for improved services and the modernisation of Ireland’s cities, towns and villages – and ultimately the nature of how Local Government did its work had to change. In particular Seán politically led the city in a time of large scale physical and large scale societal change.Even a politician like Seán French could not stop the tides of change which swept through Cork in the 1920s. It is always argued that a week is a long time in politics – no mind several years – and the authors describe the backdrop of Seán’s world in detail. The decades of 1920s and 1930s Cork is showcased here and this book even sets up further frameworks for further narratives to be researched and written about. First Citizen, Seán French, Cork’s Longest Serving Lord Mayor by Aodh Quinlivan & John Ger O’riordan will be available in any good bookshop.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 9 November 2023

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Lord Mayor's Work, Uncategorized

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 9 November 2023

Extracts:  The A-Z of Curious County Cork

My new book, The A-Z of Curious County Cork is available in any good bookshop. Published by History Press UK (2023) the book has been born out of my own personal curiosity for many years now to venture off the main roads of County Cork to explore the curiosities of cultural heritage in County Cork. This week’s column shares more extracts from the new book.

Walk: The defeat of the united forces of the Spanish and Irish at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601 led to one of the longest and most deadly walks in Irish history. The O’Sullivan Beara Gaelic clan were driven out of the Castletownbere region by the English.

Seeking sanctuary, Dónal Cam O’Sullivan, chieftain of the clan, began the long march to Leitrim on 31 December 1602. He led 1,000 men, women and children, who constituted a large-scale flight of people from the Castletownbere region. In the middle of January 1603, the clan eventually arrived at their destination with only thirty-five people surviving. Many had been killed en route, were overcome by exhaustion, or came down with a lethal illness. Others disconnected from the long walk northwards and settled along the route.

In Leitrim, O’Sullivan requested to unite with other northern chiefs to battle English forces. However, Hugh O’Neil, the Earl of Tyrone sought peace and swore an oath of loyalty to the Crown. O’Sullivan and other Irish leaders sought exile, and made their escape to France and then on to Spain.

Warrior: A beautiful long path with beech trees on both sides now leads to Saint Fanahan’s holy well in Mitcheltown, where pilgrims can reflect on the life of the warrior monk, Fanahan. The ancient Book of Lismore recalls the legendary life and time of a warrior monk named Saint Fanahan, who was born at Rathkealy, Fermoy in the early seventh century AD. His father’s name was Finlog, and the Book notes that he was chieftain of a small number of areas consisting of a few acres of land, and was one of several people who were banished from Ulster. The reason for this, however, is not recorded.

The Book further outlines that when Fanahan was 7 years of age, his family sent him to a monastery in Bangor, County Down. There he was educated as a monk, and his tutor was its abbot, St Comgell. Fanahan pursued his education, and in the years that followed became abbot of the monastery himself.

As a result of his fiery temper, he clashed regularly with his fellow monks and was soon driven away from the monastery. Fanahan and some other monks moved to the province of Munster where Cathail Mac Aedh was king. The king, delighted with his new religious adviser, gave Fanahan free choice of where he wanted to locate a new monastery.

According to the Book of Lismore, Fanahan swapped his ‘good soul’ with the ‘bad soul’ of the King of Desise, which led to Fanahan searching to cleanse his new soul. This quest to repent for his sins led Fanahan to hire seven smiths to produce seven sicles, which Fanahan used to punish himself, thus earning back his place in heaven. The smiths in question refused to be paid, but requested the new monastery be called Brí Gobhann, i.e Smith’s Hill.

The Book of Lismore notes that during Fanahan’s self-punishment campaign, an angel is reputed to have appeared to him asking him to be involved in a quarrel between the King of Meath and his enemies.

Fanahan, alongside the king and his armies, subdued their opponents with ease. There is even a folklore reference that sparks of fire came out of Fanahan’s mouth and were directed towards the enemy, and that his staff had magical powers to move objects.

Fanahan also made time to undertake a pilgrimage to Rome. It is reputed it was here that he made his confession and swore to leave behind his violent ways. Perhaps he knew he was approaching his own death, which happened in 664 AD. Canonised in later centuries, Fanahan’s feast day is on 25 November. His magic staff was secured in the Brigown round tower, where it was highly valued until a storm heavily damaged the tower in 1720.

Wave: Cleena’s Strand is located in between Ross Bay and Galley Head. Just out from the beach is a rock named Carrig Cleena, around which the waters possess a dark hue. Passed down folklore describes that Cleena, or Clíona, was queen of the Munster fairies and banshee of the Desmond kings in the Middle Ages. One legend relates that Clíona was the daughter of Mannanán Mac Lir. He was an Irish sea god. The family is said to have lived in Tír Tairngire, an otherworldly paradise much like Tir na nÓg’ (Land of Youth). In such lands, there was no sadness, no growing old, no dying and it was a place where everlasting youth reigned.

Another tale describes that Clíona eloped from Tír Tairngire with an attractive young warrior named Ciabhán of the Curling Locks. They disembarked at Trá Théite, the strand at Glandore. Ciabhán left her in his boat. A mighty wave came in and she drowned. This wave was later renamed Tonn Chlíona (Cliona’s Wave). The wave is still deemed a loud and immediate harbinger of death for someone.

Caption:

1227a. St Fanahan’s Well, Mitchelstown, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy).