Category Archives: Cork City Events

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 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.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 7 December 2023

Cork City Events, Cork History, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Uncategorized
1231a. Kieran with The A-Z of Curious County Cork, Waterstones, St Patrick's Street, Cork.
1231a. Kieran with The A-Z of Curious County Cork, Waterstones, St Patrick’s Street, Cork.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 7 December 2023

Kieran’s Cork Books for Christmas

It’s only a few weeks to Christmas. There are two publications of mine, which readers of the column might be interested in to buy as Christmas gifts. Both were published in the past eighteen months and are available in Waterstones, Vibes and Scribes, and Easons.

My new book, The A-Z of Curious County Cork, published by History Press UK (2023) 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. There are approximately 120 stories from different corners of County Cork. From the A-listing of Apparition to the Z listing of Zeal.

The added task of picking over one hundred curiosities of County Cork was also going to be a challenge. It is difficult to define what a curiosity is. Such a distinction varies from one person to another. The importance of a curiosity in one locale may also not be a curiosity to another locale. The stories within this book, and which I have chosen and noted as curiosities are ones, which have lingered in my mind long after I found them or brought me down further ‘rabbit holes’ of research.  

Being the largest county in Ireland, Cork has the advantage of also having the largest number of cultural heritage nuggets. However, with that accolade comes the conundrum of what nuggets to pick from. With any A-Z of anything it does not cover every single aspect of a particular history but this book does provides brief insights into and showcases the nuggets and narratives of cultural interest that are really embedded in local areas. It also draws upon stories from across the county’s geography.

Much has been written on the histories of County Cork. There is much written down and lots more still to be researched and written up. The County is also blessed with active guardians of its past. In particular, there is a notable myriad of local historians and historical societies, which mind the county’s past and also celebrate and even commemorate it through penning stories in newspaper articles, journals, books and providing regular fieldtrips for the general public. There is also the impressive heritage book series on County Cork, published by the Heritage Unit of Cork County Council.

In addition, this book builds on the Little Book of Cork (2015) and the Little Book of Cork Harbour (2019), both History Press publications. This book can also be read in one go or dipped in and out of. I encourage though that once you have read it bring it out into the historic county of Cork to discover many of the curiosities up close and personal.

Celebrating Cork (2022, Amberley Publishing) explores some of the many reasons why Cork is special in the hearts of Corkonians and visitors. Itbuilds on my previous publications – notably Cork In 50 Buildings, Secret Cork, and Cork City Centre Tour – all published by Amberley Publishing. 

Celebrating Cork takes the reader on a journey through the known and unknown layers of Cork’s history and ‘DNA’. It has chapters about its layered port history, the documents and maps that define its sense of identity, the arts and crafts movements that can be viewed within the cityscape, its statues and monuments, its key institutions and charities, its engineering feats and certain elements of why Cork is known for is rebel nature. 

This book focuses on different topics again of Cork’s past and places more focus on elements I have not had a chance to write upon and reflect about in the past. With more and more archival material being digitised it is easier to access original source material in antiquarian books or to search through old newspapers to find the voices championing steps in Corks progression in infrastructure, community life or in its cultural development.

   Cork’s construction on a swampland is important to note and the knock-on effects of that of that in terms of having a building stock that is not overly tall. Merchants and residents throughout the ages were aware of its physical position in the middle of a marshland with a river – and from this the hard work required in reclaiming land on a swampland. I like to think they saw and reflected upon the multitudes of timber trunks being hand driven into the ground to create foundational material for the city’s array of different architectural styles.

Cork is a stronghold of community life and culture. Corkonians have a large variety of strong cultural traditions, from the city’s history, to sports, commerce, education, maritime, festivals, literature, art, music and the rich Cork accent itself. Celebrating Cork is about being proud of the city’s and its citizens’ achievements. This book at its very heart is a nod to the resilience of Cork to community life, togetherness and neighbourliness.

Caption:

1231a. Kieran with The A-Z of Curious County Cork, Waterstones, St Patrick’s Street, Cork.

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

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 30 November 2023

Cork City Events, Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized
1230a. Denis Barry, c.1920 (picture: Cork City Library).
1230a. Denis Barry, c.1920 (picture: Cork City Library).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 30 November 2023

Recasting Cork: The Death of Denis Barry

November 1923 coincided with a newspaper focus on interned anti-Treaty Sinn Féin supporters. Statements issued by the Irish Free State government and published in the Cork Examiner showed that up to 1 July 1923 the total number of internees interned by the government were 11,316. As the summer and autumn progressed, the weekly number of prisoners being released rose steadily. The number of releases in July 1923 averaged from 100 in that month to 200 in August 1923 and 300 in September 1923. It reached nearly 800 during the weekend of 13 October 1923. Three hundred internees were released on the 3 November 1923, 500 on 10 November 1923 and 300 on 12 November 1923.

However, by 14 October 1923 a hunger strike had commenced.  By 24 October nearly 8,200 prisoners were refusing food – historical records reveal that 70 such individuals were in Cork City Gaol, 100 in Hare Park, 200 in Dundalk, 263 on a prison ship called Argenta in Belfast Lough, 350 in Kilkenny, 711 in Gormanstown, 1700 in Newbridge and 3,900 in the Curragh, Kildare. By late October, many of the internees began to start to eat again – many could not hold out.

At Newbridge Barracks in the Curraghs, Kildare. Cork born Denis Barry died at 2.45am on 20 November. He was on his 34th day of hunger strike. He was one of two internees who died of hunger strike – the other being Andy O’Sullivan Denbawn, County Cavan.

In 1912 Denis Barry was a member of Fianna Éireann youth branch. He entered the Irish Volunteer movement and was involved in building up the Volunteer movement.

In 1915, Denis left Cork to take up business in Kilkenny. There he trained young Volunteers. In 1916 he was arrested and taken to Dublin, being afterwards interned in many English Gaols where new associations were established. He was released in a general amnesty and took an active part in the following years in resuscitating the Volunteer movement, and in the Sinn Féin movement.

When the police movement was formed as an adjunct to the IRA, Denis was Brigade Officer in Command of the Police. In the height of the Black and Tan war, Denis was active in prosecuting and detecting crime. After the Burning of Cork, he with his police force recovered thousands of pounds worth of property from looters. Many merchants of the city paid tribute to his work. Denis was known to be a strict disciplinarian of the corps he controlled.

When the Treaty was signed, there was only one side for Denis to be in on and that was the anti-Treaty side. He was captured on 19 October 1922, and was located from gaol to gaol, until he began his hunger strike battle in Newbridge internment camp in the Curragh on 19 October 1923.

Denis was firstly buried by the Free State army in the Curragh, but three days later, subsequent to a Court Order, his remains were unearthed.

On the evening of 27 November, the remains of Denis Barry reached Cork City and lay overnight at the headquarters of the Cork City Sinn Féin executive at 56 Grand Parade. This unusual procedure was rendered necessary because of the Bishop Cohalan’s perspective that none of the city’s churches would be available for the reception of the Republican body.

On 28 November 1923, for some hours prior to the funeral, large numbers visited the room where the remains of Denis lay and paid tributes of respect to him. A public funeral was accorded to Denis. The Cork Examiner remarks of a large spectacle. Denis Barry’s funeral cortege was similar to those that marked the burials of Tomás MacCurtain and Terence McSwiney; “The cortege assumed remarkably large dimensions being fully representative of the business and particularly for the city and county, as well as many parts of the country, and as the funeral procession proceeded through the city it was generally recognised that it was one of the most imposing spectacles of its kind seen in Cork for some years. That body’s volunteers, as well as kindred units, especially Cumann na mBan, marched in full strength from the city and also the counties districts, and it’s four-deep solid ranks excited general interest”.

The attendance of the general public and representative bodies was also remarkably large. The cortege was described as extending from the Grand Parade all the way down the South Mall and Lapp’s Quay to Brian Boru Bridge. The cortege was headed by the MacCurtain Pipers Band. Then came members of Cuman na mBan carrying wreaths. The horse was laden with beautiful floral tributes, on each side of which members of the Irish Republican Army acted as pallbearers. This vehicle was followed by the coffin borne on the shoulders by relays of comrades along the difference thoroughfares of the cortege route.

  The cortege route was the Grand Parade, South Mall, Warren’s Place (now Parnell Bridge), MacCurtain Street, Bridge Street, St Patrick’s Street, Washington Street, Washington Street, Victoria Cross, Dennehy’s Cross, Wilton Road and Lower Glasheen Road to St Finbarr’s Cemetery. All along each of these thoroughfares large numbers of people assembled to witness such an imposing funeral.

It was dark and after 6pm when the procession reached the cemetery. By the aid of oil lamps supplied by Mr aid Donovan, the Superintendent of the cemetery the final scenes took place in the presence of the mother, brothers and sisters of Denis. A large gathering assembled around the republican plot, in which the interment was carried out, while a large assembly congregated outside the main entrance to the cemetery. The prayers at the graveside were recited by Mr David Kent TD, who also prior to the burial, sprinkled the grave with holy water. Following the internment, wreaths numbering close on eighty were placed over the grave. Miss Annie MacSwiney recited the Rosary in Irish.

Miss Mary MacSwiney TD delivered a brief oration on the campaign to secure a full Republic in Ireland; “The war was over, but their work for the Republic was not over. The loyal citizens of the Republic who were true to their country, would carry on that work to a successful conclusion. The only valid government in the country was the government of the Republic and that government would remain with them…Denis Barry like Terence McSwiney, had died for the Irish Republic, and that while there was a man or a woman left in Ireland the Republic would remain”.

Caption:

1230a. Denis Barry, c.1920 (picture: Cork City Library).

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

Speech, The Unveiling of the Michael Collins Statue, 20 October 2023

Cork City Events, Cork History, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Lord Mayor's Work, Uncategorized
Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Kieran McCarthy, Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Rena Buckley and Ronan O’Gara unveiling the new statue of Michael Collins. Credit: Darragh Kane
Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Kieran McCarthy, Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Rena Buckley and Ronan O’Gara unveiling the new statue of Michael Collins. Credit: Darragh Kane

The Parade of Memory

Dear distinguished guests, dear friends, thank you for the invite to address you.

I have three brief messages.

My first message to you this afternoon is all about the power of the rich stories that underpin Cork’s past and Ireland’s past and how this statue adds to the city’s memory bank.

In a historic port city such as Cork, stories swirl around us,

Every few metres there are stories, which stop you, they make you question, make you wonder, make you dream, make you remember, make you curious, make you disturbed, make you explore and make you to not forget – a whole series of emotions, which ultimately make a strong sense of heritage, a strong sense of memory and a strong sense of place

And this afternoon we unveil another story to add to the cityscape.

 On this historic street, Grand Parade we stand on a space with an abundance of stories, memories, and curiosities.

A former rushes and reeds threwn river channel.

A former impressive moat of the eastern walls of the walled town of Cork,

A moat giving access to the small port of the walled town via the grand castles of King’s Castle and Queen’s Castle, now depicted in the City’s Coat of Arms.

South east quadrant of the town wall, c.1600 as depicted in George Carew’s Pacata Hibernia, c.1600; red dashed line is the Grand Parade (source: Cork City Library)
South east quadrant of the town wall, c.1600 as depicted in George Carew’s Pacata Hibernia, c.1600 ; red dashed line is the Grand Parade (source: Cork City Library)

A curious late sixteenth century canon reputed to be from the Siege of Cork in 1690.

A placename with links to Georgian Cork and a toppled King George II statue, a story now immortalised in Sráid an Chapaill Bhuí

A carefully constructed series of arches over the river channel to create this Grand and wide street of the Grand Parade

A bridge named after eighteenth century champion of Cork’s impoverished Nano Nagle

An unfinished but friendly gift of a fountain by judge Walter Berwick in 1860s Cork

A thought provoking National Monument placed in 1906, ten years before the Easter Rising 

A new library emblazoned with an Irish Free State Harp, which replaced a burnt out Carnegie Library.

And the list goes on… influential families who lived and worked on the streets, historical churches such as Christ Church and St Augustine’s, famous shops, cinemas, and public space creation.

So my first brief message that as we unveil this statue and its embodied stories it is important to reflect on how lucky we are in Cork to have a wider heritage and historical contexts, which all add to Cork’s a strong sense of memory and a strong sense of place.

And this statue will also add to Cork’s a strong sense of memory and a strong sense of place.

Discover more on the Grand Parade’s evolution here: History Trail, Grand Parade | Cork Heritage

Grand Parade, Cork, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)
Grand Parade, Cork, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

My second message to you is bound up with narrowing the lens even more to reflect on why the statue is placed on this location and what drew Michael Collins to the street here on 11 March 1922.

 It is important to note the historical context or the time and space of what we remember here especially as all of us Corkonians frequent the Grand Parade regularly.

It was the first political rally that Michael Collins attended outside Dublin to promote support for the Treaty was in Cork City. All of the regional newspapers of the time including the Cork Examiner had media spreads on the rally.

On Saturday afternoon, 11 March, Michael and colleagues arrived to Cork City.

Anti-treaty supporters fired gunshots into the air as Collins passed in his car through St Patrick’s Street towards his accommodation at Turner’s Hotel on Oliver Plunkett Street. This was not a straight forward visit but hindered by security concerns.

During Saturday evening, two platforms set up on the Grand Parade for the rally the following day were damaged.

On Sunday 11 March circa 50,000 people turned up on Cork’s Grand Parade for the rally. Every vantage point was used. At platform no.1, the first speaker was Liam De Róiste, who was followed by Michael Collins.

*View British Pathe footage of Michael Collins addressing the Cork public in March 1922, GREAT CORK TREATY – British Pathé (britishpathe.com)

The core of Michael’s speech was basically a rebuttal of many of De Valera’s ideas he had presented in previous weeks at his own Anti Treaty rallies across the country.

Michael went onto comment on the Treaty negotiations and the success of the British army leaving the south of Ireland.

In a sense culture and society was physically changing in Cork.

Michael Collins was followed by Seán Hayes, Commandant Seán McKeown TD, Commandant Seán Hayes TD, and Diarmuid Fawsitt. During Seán McKeown’s speech shots were fired during his speech and continued interruptions of shouting was heard all the way to the end of the programme of platform no.1.

The pro Treaty rally hosted by Michael Collins on Cork’s Grand Parade on Sunday 12 March was deemed a success. The following day, Monday 13 March, before taking the afternoon train back to Dublin, Michael took the time with Diarmuid Fawsitt from the Provisional Government’s Ministry of Economics to visit and take a tour of the Ford factory.

At Turner’s Hotel on Oliver Plunkett Street Michael Collins received several deputations – Irish Ex-Servicemen, Tenant’s Association, Cork and District Labour Council and a deputation appeared about the question of advancing funding for premises destroyed in the Burning of Cork.

Their mantras were all about a job of work to do to resolve economic and social challenges, which faced Cork. 

The city had 8,000 people unemployed with a large proportion of whom were artisans, mechanics and unskilled labourers.

So yes there was much excitement for Michael here on 11 March but there were also many questions about the winds of cultural and societal change within Irish society and Cork society and what an emerging Irish Free State would look like.

Indeed, over the ensuing six weekends Michael Collins held political rallies from Skibbereen to Waterford, Wexford, Castlebar, Tralee, and Naas, where questions and answers continued.

Michael Collins giving an oration on the Grand Parade, Cork 12 March 1922 (picture: Cork Examiner)

And my third and last message concerns one of the statements of Michael he gave on this street on 11 March. Towards the end of his passionate speech, he made a noble call about created a better Ireland for future generations.

“We have a chance now of giving our people a better life, we have a chance of doing the things that the people required done. We have a chance that the people shall no longer live the life of beasts.

We have a chance of ending our slums. We have a chance of ending the hovels of some of our country places. We have a chance of making our population happy and health. We have a chance now, not by travelling any soft road, God knows, but by a hard tilted effort to make Ireland something for the next generation, which it was not for ourselves, which it was not for ourselves”.

We are Michael’s next generation. And yes, much was done in the emerging Irish Free State to create a better Ireland. One just even have to look at Cork’s development in the 1920s – rebuilding of the City Centre, clearance of slums, massive social housing projects, economic development of our towns and villages and rural areas, and most all the emergence of a more happy, healthy and hopeful people.

But here we are over 100 years after Michael’s oration here, in a time where a “hard tilted” efforts needs to be made again, for ourselves and for future generations – across elements in particular of housing provision, hospital care, social inclusion, equality, community life, future proofing employment – what Michael called for a centenary ago.

We have a chance in our time to finish what Michael and his compatriots started. And we ow to ourselves to finish the job, work together and to strive forward.

So Dear Friends today, yes we reflect upon our new statue of Michael Collins but it is also to reflect on the cauldron of different simmering ideas or messages.

 It is important to reflect on the wider context on which this statue is to be added to and the rich sense of place the City possesses,

the messages of cultural and societal change abounding in 1922,

and the role of past narratives in our present and our future. That the work of what Michael and his compatriots remains unfinished.

To conclude dear friends, I wish to thank the fundraising campaign committee, my colleague Cllr Shane O’Callaghan for his commitment to championing the story of Michael Collins, and to Michael Holland for his creative skills in forging this beautiful piece of sculptural work. Go raibh míle maith agat.

Unveiling of new Michael Collins statue, Grand Parade, Cork, 20 October 2023 (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Lord Mayor Echo Column, 14 October 2023

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

Community Grassroots Matters

            The past, present and future of community building is very regular theme in the Lord Mayor’s office. Two events recently reiterated the legacy of community life and the importance of grassroots activities in our city. I gave a civic reception to former Independent Councillor Con O’Leary and met with Cork City FC and Gerry McAnaney, the President of the FAI.

Honouring Con O’Leary:

            Whilst Con, like myself, served as an Independent Councillor in Cork City Council, I didn’t share the Council Chamber with him but Con’s family, friends and my colleagues in the Council shared some snippets from Con’s life and contribution to the City with me. Con was born in the Community he has served for most of his life – Gurranabraher, going to Blarney St. Boy’s School. Con and wife Ann lived in Charlemont Terrace, Wellington Road as newlyweds. They moved to Mayfield for a short period before returning back to Con’s roots in Gurranabraher in 1973.

            An opportunity arose to purchase ‘Molly’s Shop’ now known as ‘Con’s Shop’ and for over 50 years now Con has served the people of Gurranabraher from that shop. We all know the value of the corner shop.  The service they provide goes way beyond a pint of milk, a loaf of bread or a lottery card.  These shops are bedrocks of community life.  Con, like many shopkeepers – not only kept the shop, but kept an eye on the street, provided shelter from the rain and an open ear when no one else was listening.  He knew when people were struggling and pointed them in the direction of help. 

            It is borne out of the shop as a community service that Con got involved in a whole host of community initiatives – Churchfield/Gurranabraher youth club, St. Anthony’s over 60’s club, Churchfield/Gurranabraher Meals on Wheels, The Legion of Mary Gurranabraher, Ógra Corcaigh, and the North Infirmary Action Group

            Perhaps it was that Community involvement then that led Con into local politics in 1991– not only serving as a Councillor but also as a Member of the Southern Health Board, and as a Director of EACD (European Cities against Drugs). A glance at newspapers from 1991-2004 shows important and a myriad of councillor campaigns by Con. It is an honour to celebrate a master crafts person of community, someone who forged carefully community life in our city over many decades.

Honouring Football Legacies:

            Football in Cork became a major theme across one of my recent weeks. Cork City FC hosted a breakfast briefing at The Metropole Hotel, which I attended and I also hosted a reception to honour the work of the President of the FAI Gerry McAnaney, who has strong links to College Corinthians, amongst other.

            Cork City FC has invited sponsors of the club to gather and hear about the business of running the football club and about how the club is building on the relationships already established with some of Cork’s leading businesses.  The club is also hoping to increase its sponsors by establishing and developing relationships with other businesses in the city.

            Cork City FC like many of our sporting clubs matters in our city and region and add significantly to the essence of building community values in Cork and grassroots sports initiatives in Cork – the tangible and intangible benefits. This was also one of the themes of Gerry’s speech during his visit to City Hall.

            In addition one does not have to look far to see how football clubs are rooted in the life of the city and how proud the city are of them, and how it represents the many legacies of football clubs going back over one hundred years.

            Indeed, one just has to go to any match to see the sense of pride, ownership and love for Cork City FC amongst players, management and the supporters who chant, laugh, cry and shout more and then even chant, laugh, cry and shout more the local football team on. And that essence of pride is hard to physically replicate.

            There are individuals who have spent decades every week supported the team and there are parents or guardians who proudly bring the next generation on in all kinds of weather, and they wouldn’t miss it for anything. There are incredible special moments of human connection are bound up with football and indeed all of the sports that operate in Cork. 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.

Notes from the Lord Mayor’s Office:

September 30: I was delighted to launch the Celebrating Cork Past Exhibition.

September 30: It was great to attend and take part in the Lord Mayor’s Community Heritage Concert.

October 2: It was a great honour to receive Douglas born and reared woman Mary Scanlon, who is celebrating her 100th anniversary early next month.

October 2: I paid a visit to the Elephant Sculpture as part of the Cork Samaritans Elephant in the Room campaign.

October 2: I was delighted to launch the Dragon of Shandon, which is all set for 31 October to re-enter the streets of Cork.

October 4: I was delighted to pay a courtesy visit to Collins Barracks to learn about its history and its role in the future of the Cork region.

October 5: I attended the Cork City FC Breakfast morning whose focus was on sponsorship.

October 5: I attended and presented the centenary event for the Insurance Institute of Cork.

October 6: I hosted a reception with College Corinthians to mark the completion of Gerry McAnaney’s presidency of the FAI.

October 6: I hosted a number of visiting scholars who were presenting the Western Front conference in Cork on aspects of the First World War.

Kieran’s Lord Mayor’s Echo Column, 30 September 2023

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

Celebrating St Finbarr:

This past week marked the 1400th anniversary of Cork’s patron saint’s death. Ceremonies took place in St Finbarre’s Cathedral and will also take place at Gougane Barra. On reflection, it is amazing how much folklore and legend of our patron saint has defined the Cork city’s heritage.

Historically Finbarr’s Life survives in 35 manuscripts and twenty-one copies of the early vernacular life. Finbarr’s written vernacular life has undergone little major change between its earliest and latest extant copies. These date respectively to about 1450 to 1874. Finbarr’s original life seems to have been composed, perhaps as part of a collection, in Cork between 1196 and 1201 AD, some 25 years after the arrival of the Normans in South Munster. This was a time of reform in the Catholic Church.

There are several ways of spelling Finbarr but the most common spelling is as shown. His connection seems rooted in several religious sites across the Lee Valley from source (Gougane Barra) to mouth (Cork City). Finbarr’s Life was composed initially in Latin between 1196 and 1201 AD. His life was transmitted along three principal lines, each marking a major revision of the original text.

Finbarr’s myth endures in the valley and it is the legacy of St Finbarr that gives the city and valley its core spiritual identity and an origins story. Across the valley, there are churches named after Finbarr and a number of memorials depicting the saint in churches in the form of stained glass windows and statues.

An Enduring Figure:

There are several legends that have made it into the city’s main historical narrative. One legend records that the origins of Cork City begins at the source of the Lee in the scenic Shehy Mountains at the heart of which lies the cherished pilgrimage site of Gougane Barra (Finbarr’s rocky cleft). There St Finbarr reputedly established one of his earlier monasteries on an island in the middle of Gougane Lake. Legend has it that he then left to walk the river valley at the mouth of which he established the monastery (at what is now the site of St FinBarre’s Cathedral in Cork City) overlooking Corcach Mór na Mumhan or the Great Marsh of Munster.

Finbarr’s hermitage was located around the area of present-day Gillabbey Street. It grew to be an important religious centre in southern Munster, providing ecclesiastical services in the form of a church and graveyard, and secular services in the form of a school, hospital and hostel. The annal evidence for the school relates that languages such as Latin were taught and that it was one of the five primary sites in Ireland in terms of size and influence. Word quickly spread of the monastery’s valuable contribution to society, and it became necessary to expand the site.

Between 600 AD and 800 AD, a larger hermitage was constructed east of the original site on open ground now marked by St. FinBarre’s Cathedral. It is believed that over the subsequent centuries this hermitage grew to a point where it extended along the northern district of the Lough, and extended on both sides of Gillabbey Street and College Road about as far as the locality now occupied by University College Cork (UCC).

Around the year 623 AD St Finbarr died at the monastery of his friend, St Colman, at Cloyne in East Cork. His body was returned to his hermitage and his remains were encased in a silver shrine. Here they remained until 1089 when they were stolen by Dermod O’Brien. The shrine and the remains have never been recovered. Legend has it that the location of his tomb is just to the southeast of the present cathedral, overlooked by the famous Golden Angel. St Finbarr’s feast day is celebrated on 25 September. As the city’s patron saint he is still greatly revered. The city is lucky to have such a rich cultural heritage.

Meeting Notes from the Lord Mayor’s Desk:

My school visits are ongoing. I have now entered week four of five weeks where the 115 city schools will be visited. Over 40,000 primary and secondary students are engaged over the 26 morning run. Many thanks for the warm welcome so far.

September 28, It was great honour to celebrate the work of the Cork Learning Neighbourhoods over the past year. There are six Learning Neighbourhoods which include Knocknaheeny, Ballyphehane, Mayfield, The Glen, Togher and South Parish. It is important to recognise the importance of the volunteers across the communities who are promoting lifelong learning. There have been diverse and inclusive learning activities that have taken place over the past year. The contribution of the four key partners, CETB, Cork City Council, UCC and MTU are crucial as well as the work of the Learning City Team.

September 27, I formally opened the ETB’s Future of Education conference in the Concert Hall in City Hall. It’s 10 years since Ireland’s 16 Education and Training Boards were established. Following the hugely successful “ETB Day” celebrations earlier this year, ETBs now turn their attention to the future, What does the ETB school, college and organisation of the Future look like? What do our current learners expect and want for the class of 2033? What do we need from our funders, stakeholders and staff to help us get there?

September 26, I launched Cork City Local Enterprise Office’s Autumn/Winter Training Schedule. Cork City has a strong and successful small business sector. At the Local Enterprise Office, Cork City their goal is to ensure the continued growth and success of micro enterprises in the region. Their responsibilities include Fostering a local enterprise culture, maximising the employment potential of small businesses in the region, and providing a range of business support packages to small-scale enterprises including business information & advice, mentoring and training. 

September 24, I launched Cork Walking Week 2023 which took place from the 18th to 24th September. As part of the festival I hosted my historical walking tour of Shandon. The week highlights the stakeholders that are working to make Cork city and county a more accessible and safe place to get out walking and wheeling. Infrastructural developments coupled with determined advocacy for the prioritisation of walking and wheeling will help to break down barriers and normalise walking and wheeling. 

Culture Night Cork City, 22 September 2023

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

This year’s Culture Night, on September 22nd 2023, will see venues all over the country open their doors, late into the night. From music to the arts, to comedy, fashion, and literature, entertainment lovers are in for a real treat as more than 1,000 live events are planned across the country.

Cork City’s Culture Night Programme has an astonishing array of events which will appear in online listings and printed fliers in September.

A hugely anticipated, annual, all Ireland event , Culture Night / Oíche Chultúir celebrates culture, creativity, and the arts, and seeks to actively promote the belief that this rich and varied culture is alive, treasured, and nurtured in people’s lives. 

Keep up to date with programme additions by following the conversation online #CultureNight / #OícheChultúir and #CorkCultureNight. Check out Twitter and Facebook\corkcityarts and Instagram/culturenightcorkcity

Culture Night Cork City is brought to you by Cork City Council in partnership with the Arts Council.

Save the Date – September 22nd 2023 – Cork City Council