Category Archives: Kieran’s Council Work

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 18 January 2024

1236a. Daly's Bridge aka Shaky Bridge, present day, which is one of the featured bridges in Kieran's audio heritage trail of the Bridges of Cork (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
1236a. Daly’s Bridge aka Shaky Bridge, present day, which is one of the featured bridges in Kieran’s audio heritage trail of the Bridges of Cork (picture: Kieran McCarthy).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 18 January 2024

Kieran’s Audio Heritage Trails

January generally coincides with some fine and cold cold days where walking the city is lit up by wintry Atlantic light. As someone who enjoys photographing the city, it is a good time of year to capture some of the city’s nuanced layers of its past. I hope to launch my physical walking tours again in April but in the meantime, check out my audio heritage trails, which have been developed with Meitheal Mara – on the Bridges of Cork and The Marina respectively.

Both audio trails are hosted on my website www.corkheritage.ie under the history trails section. All you need is your smartphone and some headphones. The first audio trail provides insights into the histories of the Cork city centre’s bridges, their place in Cork and some of their surrounding histories. The walk around the bridges is just over two hours in duration. The trail is clockwise from South Gate Bridge up the south channel and down the north channel to cross back to the south channel. It ends at Nano Nagle Bridge.

They say the best way to get to know a place is to walk it. Through many centuries Cork has experienced every phase of Irish urban development. It is a city you can get lost in narrow streets, marvel at old cobbled lane ways, photograph old street corners, gaze at clues from the past, engage in the forgotten and the remembered, search and connect for something of oneself, and thirst in the sense of story-telling – in essence feel the DNA of the place. With so many layers of history in Cork, there is much to see on any walk around Cork City and its respective neighbourhoods. The River Lee has had and continues to have a key role in the city’s evolution.  Many Corkonians and visitors have crossed over the River Lee’s bridges and have appreciated the river’s tranquil and hypnotic flow.

The audio trail begins at the oldest of the city’s bridges – that of South Gate Bridge. In the time of the Anglo Normans establishing a fortified walled settlement and a trading centre in Cork around 1200 AD, South Gate Drawbridge formed one of the three entrances – North Gate Bridge and Watergate being the others. A document for the year 1620 stated that the mayor, Sheriff and commonality of Cork, commissioned Alderman Dominic Roche to erect two new drawbridges in the city over the river where timber bridges existed at the South Gate Bridge and the other at North Gate.

In May 1711, agreement was reached by the Council of Cork Corporation that North Gate Bridge would be rebuilt in stone in 1712 while in 1713, South Gate Bridge would be replaced with a stone arched structure. South Gate Bridge still stands today in its past form as it did over 300 years ago apart from a small bit of restructuring and strengthening in early 1994.

The second of the new audio trails is on The Marina. A stroll down The Marina is popular by many people. The area is particularly characterized by its location on the River Lee and the start of Cork Harbour. Here scenery, historical monuments and living heritage merge to create a historical tapestry of questions of who developed such a place of ideas. Where not all the answers have survived, The Marina is lucky, that archives, newspaper accounts, census records and old maps and other insights have survived to showcase how the area and the wider area has developed. These give an insight into ways of life and ambitions in the past, some of which can help the researcher in the present day in understanding The Marina’s evolution and sense of place going forward.

Cork’s Marina was originally called the Navigation Wall or in essence it was a guidance or tracking wall to bring ships into Cork City’s South Docks area. It was completed in 1761.

Following the constitution of the Cork Harbour Commissioners in 1814 and their introduction of steam dredging, a vigorous programme of river and berth deepening, quay and wharf building commenced. The dredger of the Cork Harbour Commissioners deposited the silt from the river into wooden barges, which were then towed ashore. The silt was re-deposited behind the Navigation Wall.

During the Great Famine, the deepening of the river created jobs for 1,000 men who worked on widening the physical dock of the Navigation Wall. In essence a fine road was constructed, which linked into Cork’s South Docks. To give an aesthetic to the new road, a fine row of elm trees was planted c.1856 by Prof. Edmund Murphy of Queen’s College Cork (now UCC). The elm trees were part of a crop and tree growing experiment.

In 1870, the Gaelic poet and scholar Donncha Ó Floinn put forward to the Improvements Committee of Cork Corporation that the new road of the Navigation wall be named Slí na hAbhann, which means the ‘pathway by the river’. Ó Floinn’s proposal was not accepted. The matter came before the Improvements Committee again in 1872. This time Ó Floinn suggested that the promenade be named ‘The Marina’. He outlined that ‘The Marina’ was the name allocated to a recently reclaimed piece of land near Palermo in Sicily. In July 1872, Cork Corporation formally adopted ‘The Marina’ as the name of the new road or promenade.

Listen to Kieran’s audio heritage trails under history trails at www.corkheritage.ie

Captions:

1236a. Daly’s Bridge aka Shaky Bridge, present day, which is one of the featured bridges in Kieran’s audio heritage trail of the Bridges of Cork (picture: Kieran McCarthy).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 11 January 2024

1235a. Screen grab of the Digital Atlas of Cork.
1235a. Screen grab of the Digital Atlas of Cork.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 11 January 2024

The New Digital Atlas of Cork

They say the best way to get to know a city is to walk it – and in these early January days it is an ideal time. In Cork you can get lost in narrow streets, marvel at old cobbled lane ways, photograph old street corners, look up beyond the modern shopfronts, gaze at clues from the past, be enthused and at the same time disgusted by a view, smile at interested locals, engage in the forgotten and the remembered, search and connect for something of oneself, thirst in the sense of story-telling – in essence feel the DNA of the place.

Giving walking tours for over 30 years has allowed me to bring people on a journey into that soul but also receive feedback on the wider contexts of what visitors and locals have seen elsewhere. Cork is a city packed with historic gems all waiting to be discovered at every street corner.

Cork has a soul, which is packed full of ambition and heart. Cork’s former historic networks and contacts are reflected in its the physical urban fabric – its bricks, street layout and decaying timber wharfs. Inspired by other cities with similar trading partners, it forged its own unique take on port architecture.

So the new Digital Atlas of Cork/ Corcaigh is very welcome. It is one of a series of digital atlases created by the Irish Historic Towns Atlas team (the others are Derry, Dungarvan and Galway). The Digital Atlas of Cork/Corcaigh is an initiative of the Digital Working Group of the Irish Historic Towns Atlas research programme. The project has been led by Sarah Gearty (Royal Irish Academy) and Rachel Murphy (University of Limerick), with Mani Morse (Dublin City University) as Digital Manager. 

The Digital Atlas of Cork/Corcaigh is a free online interactive map that invites you to discover the built heritage of Cork City in a new way where 6,245 features of the city’s history from AD 623 to 1900 are mapped. The atlas includes descriptions of over 800 streets, including their names in Irish and English as well as historical variants.

Users can browse the digital atlas or search for a specific site in the city. They can also select and view features associated with specific time periods, from medieval times to the present day. Most notably, it maps out Cork’s earlier historical sites especially around South and North Main Street and its Viking age history and Anglo Norman history.

Each historical feature is represented by a coloured symbol, each feature has been categorized into one of eleven different themes such as entertainment, manufacturing, religion and transport. When a user clicks on a feature, key information about it is displayed in a pop-up box. 

A specially commissioned historical map depicts each individual house and plot during the mid-nineteenth century (1842). This is just one of a number of layered maps that may be switched on and off to show how the city developed over the centuries. 

Other layers include Ordnance Survey maps — a present-day plan of the city, as well as historic maps showing Cork pre-Great Famine and at the turn of the twentieth century. Additional map layers will be released over the coming months, providing access for the first time to digitised town plans by the Ordnance Survey (1842) and Valuation Office (1852–64). 

A downloadable user guide has been created to accompany the resource, to allow anyone to explore the Digital Atlas with further education and project work in mind. The project has been part funded by the Heritage Council Stewardship Fund 2023. It has been supported by partners Cork City Council, the Digital Repository of Ireland, the National Archives of Ireland and Táilte Éireann.

The Digital Atlas is remarkable with over 6,000 entries. It is a tremendous new resource for all the people of Cork and will no doubt instil a sense of pride in local communities, through its use in schools and libraries. In particular, the research and further reading aspect of the atlas will be a great source for anyone with an interest in the history and development of Cork City. This innovative project from the Royal Irish Academy will make the valuable research of the Irish Historic Towns Atlas series available to a wider and more varied audience than heretofore.

The atlas will contribute immensely to the work of Cork City Council and the wider professional community in Cork particularly those working in archives, museums, education, planning, architecture and conservation. Ciara Brett, City Archaeologist, Cork City Council noted of the Digital Atlas:

 “The Digital Atlas, when utilised with the forthcoming printed Atlas, will be a great benefit to the study of the changing urban environment and will provide practical assistance in the preparation and implementation of planning policy and development management in the City. The IHTA Cork/Corcaigh volume in digital format will add to the existing corpus of published material and will, I believe, encourage future research and study that will enhance our understanding and appreciation of our city”.

The Digital Atlas of Cork/Corcaigh is based on research carried out for Irish Historic Towns Atlas, no. 31, Cork/Corcaigh by Howard B Clarke and Máire Ní Laoi, which will be published by the Royal Irish Academy in print in May 2024. 

Based at the Royal Irish Academy, the Irish Historic Towns Atlas research programme traces the topographical development of towns, cities and suburbs through its atlas and ancillary publications, annual seminars and special exhibitions. It is part of a wider international scheme that covers nineteen countries. The Irish programme is considered a leader in the development of digital atlases of this kind.

For more log onto www.ria.ie/digital-atlas-corkcorcaigh

Caption:

1235a. Screen grab of the Digital Atlas of Cork.

Kieran’s Lord Mayor’s Column, 6 January 2024

Discover Cork Through a New Digital Atlas:

  They say the best way to get to know a city is to walk it – and a new year with crisp early January days is an ideal time. In Cork you can get lost in narrow streets, marvel at old cobbled lane ways, photograph old street corners, look up beyond the modern shopfronts, gaze at clues from the past, be enthused and at the same time disgusted by a view, smile at interested locals, engage in the forgotten and the remembered, search and connect for something of oneself, thirst in the sense of story-telling – in essence feel the DNA of the place.

Giving walking tours for over 30 years has allowed me to bring people on a journey into that soul but also receive feedback on the wider contexts of what visitors and locals have seen elsewhere. Cork is a city packed with historic gems all waiting to be discovered at every street corner.

Cork has a soul, which is packed full of ambition and heart. Cork’s former historic networks and contacts are reflected in its the physical urban fabric – its bricks, street layout and decaying timber wharfs. Inspired by other cities with similar trading partners, it forged its own unique take on port architecture.

So the new Digital Atlas of Cork/ Corcaigh is very welcome. It is one of a series of digital atlases created by the Irish Historic Towns Atlas team (others are Derry, Dungarvan and Galway). The Digital Atlas of Cork/Corcaigh is an initiative of the Digital Working Group of the Irish Historic Towns Atlas research programme. The project has been led by Sarah Gearty (Royal Irish Academy) and Rachel Murphy (University of Limerick), with Mani Morse (Dublin City University) as Digital Manager. 

The Digital Atlas of Cork/Corcaigh is a free online interactive map that invites you to discover the built heritage of Cork City in a new way where 6,245 features of the city’s history from AD 623 to 1900 are mapped. The atlas includes descriptions of over 800 streets, including their names in Irish and English as well as historical variants.

View the atlas here: Digital Atlas of Cork/Corcaigh | Royal Irish Academy (ria.ie)

Users can browse the digital atlas or search for a specific site in the city. They can also select and view features associated with specific time periods, from medieval times to the present day. Most notably, it maps out Cork’s earlier historical sites especially around South and North Main Street and its Viking age history and Anglo Norman history.

Each historical feature is represented by a coloured symbol, each feature has been categorized into one of eleven different themes such as entertainment, manufacturing, religion and transport. When a user clicks on a feature, key information about it is displayed in a pop-up box. 

A specially commissioned historical map depicts each individual house and plot during the mid-nineteenth century (1842). This is just one of a number of layered maps that may be switched on and off to show how the city developed over the centuries. 

Other layers include Ordnance Survey maps — a present-day plan of the city, as well as historic maps showing Cork pre-Famine and at the turn of the twentieth century. Additional map layers will be released over the coming months, providing access for the first time to digitised town plans by the Ordnance Survey (1842) and Valuation Office (1852–64). 

A downloadable user guide has been created to accompany the resource, to allow anyone to explore the Digital Atlas with further education and project work in mind. The project has been part funded by the Heritage Council Stewardship Fund 2023. It has been supported by partners Cork City Council, the Digital Repository of Ireland, the National Archives of Ireland and Tailte Éireann.

The Digital Atlas is remarkable with over 6,000 entries. It is a tremendous new resource for all the people of Cork and will no doubt instil a sense of pride in local communities, through its use in schools and libraries. In particular, the research and further reading aspect of the atlas will be a great source for anyone with an interest in the history and development of Cork City. This innovative project from the Royal Irish Academy will make the valuable research of the Irish Historic Towns Atlas series available to a wider and more varied audience than heretofore.

The atlas will contribute immensely to the work of Cork City Council and the wider professional community in Cork particularly those working in archives, museums, education, planning, architecture and conservation. Ciara Brett, City Archaeologist, Cork City Council noted of the Digital Atlas:

 “The Digital Atlas, when utilised with the forthcoming printed Atlas, will be a great benefit to the study of the changing urban environment and will provide practical assistance in the preparation and implementation of planning policy and development management in the City. The IHTA Cork/Corcaigh volume in digital format will add to the existing corpus of published material and will, I believe, encourage future research and study that will enhance our understanding and appreciation of our city”.

The Digital Atlas of Cork/Corcaigh is based on research carried out for Irish Historic Towns Atlas, no. 31, Cork/Corcaigh by H.B. Clarke and Máire Ní Laoi, which will be published by the Royal Irish Academy in print in May 2024. 

Based at the Royal Irish Academy, the Irish Historic Towns Atlas research programme traces the topographical development of towns, cities and suburbs through its atlas and ancillary publications, annual seminars and special exhibitions. It is part of a wider international scheme that covers nineteen countries. The Irish programme is considered a leader in the development of digital atlases of this kind.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 4 January 2023

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 4 January 2024

Past Projections into the Future

The more one studies the vast stories 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 stories, which created our beautiful city.

In recent months one interesting project in the guise of Island City Sculpture Trail, has harnessed Cork’s urban environment and its heritage and history to bring art to the streets of Cork. The temporary artworks are located on Carey’s Lane, the Exchange Building on Princes Street, Cook Street, Cornmarket Street and soon at Triskel Christchurch.

Island city Sculpture Trail at its heart reflects 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.

Tempus Futurum by Brian Kenny is a light projection onto Triskel Christchurch that takes viewers on a journey through the building’s rich history, present and future. Brian is a video artist and projection mapping specialist whose work focuses on the transformation of environments through the manipulation of lighting and video technology.  His video and projection mapping work spans all formats of presentation from contemporary galleries to large-scale outdoor productions.  He is the founder and Creative Director of Lightscape Visuals, an award-winning studio specialising in projection mapping, live visuals and immersive and interactive environments.

On the historic South Main Street there is an abundance of stories, memories, and curiosities. It is a former rushes and reeds swampland. On top of that a Hiberno-Norse settlement grew. Some of their foundational timber structures still exist and are so compacted beneath the ground because of our pressure on them. It was they who also built the first South Gate Bridge – a flimsy timber structure, which has changed at least four-five times over the past thousand years.

South Main Street became a former impressive street of the walled town of Cork, whose width was originally probably about three metres and where light onto the street was limited.

Christ Church is the fourth building on the site for Christ Church over the past 1,000 years. It’s current crypt hosting names of families from 17th and 18th century Cork whose names are embedded in street names – for example Tuckey Street.

South Main Street is a street that had once was one of the largest breweries in the South of Ireland in the guise of Beamish and Crawford. It is a street where arches such as those on the southern end of Bishop Lucey Park highlight one of the largest clothing companies in 19th century in the guise of Lyons Clothing Company.

Bishop Lucey Park, soon to be revamped with its impressive array of monuments, hosts a piece of the town wall of Cork’s Anglo-Norman walled town to a 1798 rebellion memorial, and boxing memorials. The park is a nod to the 800th anniversary of Cork becoming an official market place complete with a mayor, councillors and sheriffs.

The list of historical stories goes on – the story of the debtor’s prison, the story of Hanover Street and the House of Hanover connection, the story of Lane’s Brewery, the story of the Wide Street Commission, the earlier nineteenth yellow slob brick from Douglas Estuary in the current buildings on the street, the story of the naming of George Washington Street, the story of the Triskel Arts Centre, and the story of the Sir Henry’s Night Club. South Main Street is very fortunate to have such heritage, history and memory.

Brian Kenny’s remarkable, digitally mapped, moving image artwork is projected onto the South Main Street façade of the Christ Church, which is over 300 years old. Each evening from dusk, for up to seven months a year, the captivating 10-minute looped moving visuals will be projected for all to enjoy.  

Tempus Futurum is inspired by the motto “A society thrives when elders plant trees under whose shade they’ll never rest”. It delves into past, present, and an imminent future, exploring human impact on the environment.

Amidst this journey, the perspectives of 50 local schoolchildren breathe life into the projection, offering reflections on the building’s future. Their youthful imaginations visualise a world shaped by present actions – a reminder that our choices today echo into tomorrow’s legacy.

Beginning with a interpretation of unharmed forests untouched by humanity, the first scene evokes the beauty of nature in its untouched form. Transitioning, the arrival of human settlement marks a central juncture, signalling the beginning of cultivation and humanity’s imprint on the landscape – a forerunner to the city’s birth.

Brian invites reflection into one’s relationship with the location and the city’s evolution. The artwork stresses that even in the face of an uncertain future, our actions echo – a testament to the legacy we leave for generations yet to come.

Brian notes of his narrative: “As viewers immerse themselves in this thought-provoking narrative, they become integral threads in the tapestry of time, realising that our relationship with our surroundings isn’t solitary but part of an enduring continuum—a reminder that our choices today shape the shadows cast upon the landscapes of tomorrow”.

Read more on: www.corkcity.ie/en/island-city-cork-s-urban-sculpture-trail

Happy New Year to all readers.

Caption:

1234a. Artist Brian Kenny at Tempus Futurum at Triskel ChristChurch, December 2023 (picture: Cork City Council).

Happy Christmas

The Blessing of a Candle

by Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Kieran McCarthy

Sturdy on a table top and lit by youngest fair,
a candle is blessed with hope and love, and much festive cheer,
Set in a wooden centre piece galore,
it speaks in Christian mercy and a distant past of emotional lore,

With each commencing second, memories come and go,
like flickering lights on the nearest Christmas tree all lit in traditional glow,
With each passing minute, the flame bounces side to side in drafty household breeze,
its light conjuring feelings of peace and warmth amidst familiar blissful degrees,

With each lapsing hour, the residue of wax visibly melts away,
whilst the light blue centered heart is laced with a spiritual healing at play,

With each ending day, how lucky are those who love and laugh around its glow-filledness,
whilst outside, the cold beats against the nearest window in the bleak winter barreness,
Fear and nightmare drift away in the emulating light,
both threaten this season in almighty wintry flight,

Sturdy on a table top and lit by youngest fair,
a candle is blessed with hope and love, and much festive cheer.

Kieran’s Lord Mayor Column, The Echo, 23 December 2023

Island City, Cork’s New City Sculpture Trail:

Island City Sculpture Trail is the most ambitious arts project Cork City Council has undertaken and the single biggest investment in public art our city has ever seen. I was delighted to meet all of the inspiring artists and architects, at their individual unveilings over the past few months, and to hear the incredible thinking, ambition, motivations, process, detail and love that has gone into each installation.

Cork City Council would like to sincerely thank our partners Fáilte Ireland, who funded the project under the Urban Animation Scheme, and the National Sculpture Factory for commission support.

The trail has been a great project for all, bringing art to the streets of Cork and enriching our urban environment and its heritage and history. In fact, it is a testament to the resilience, creativity and togetherness of the cultural sector. This initiative will deepen the city’s connection with public art and encourage locals and visitors to explore new areas of the city as art comes to life on our streets. The trail will be in situ for the next five years.

The temporary artworks are located on Carey’s Lane, the Exchange Building on Princes Street, Cook Street, Cornmarket Street and soon at Triskel Christchurch.

Sentinels (flew through the ages in the shape of birds) by artist Niamh McCann is a lane-length sculptural piece influenced by the architecture, geography, and incidental features along the length of Carey’s Lane in Cork city centre. The work is fixed above head height on the lane and is held by the simple image of a seagull, perched atop a neon strip, sentinel-like on either end of Carey’s Lane. The sculpture is intended to be intriguing and playful, animating the lane by day and by night – a work that is both intimate and dynamic and responds to the shifting shape of the city.

Sentinels’ is a nod to the old and the new – from Cork City’s diverse and migratory history and its merchant and yachting tradition to its welcoming of new cultures and its urban adaptability. Using a combination of contemporary materials and craft, the installation explores the themes of travel and landscape and draws a line from one end of the lane to the other.

The artist was also influenced by the inhabitants and geography of the lane such as the history of craft, culture and the presence of the Huguenot graveyard. Niamh worked with sustainable materials that work well in outdoor settings such as bronze, jesmonite, and cedar wood. The red rope that links the pieces is a nod to the Rebel county’s traditional colour.

The Face Cup by artist Fiona Mulholland is a celebration of the county’s rich prehistoric heritage. The artworks populate the facade of the historic Exchange Building on the corner of Princes Street and Oliver Plunkett Street.

Linking the past to the present, Fiona’s artwork of large-scale sculptural reliefs is based on a collection of exceptional Bronze Age ceramic artefacts – a small clay cup decorated with eyes, nose, ears and feet, another pottery vessel with ears and a spoon dating approximately 3800 years old. The original artefacts were excavated by archaeologists working on the site of the N8/N73 Mitchelstown Relief Road in 2004, who have assisted Fiona with ensuring accuracy for the project. The artworks are handmade in styrofoam and fibreglass to keep them light-weight and painted gold as a nod to our Bronze Age heritage.

Boom Nouveau by collaborative practice Forerunner can be viewed on Cook Street. The sculpture mimics the form of a tangible everyday urban street feature – the lamp post. The name Boom Nouveau refers to the rupture of the artwork emerging from the ground, with a nod to the influence of the craftsmanship of art nouveau.

The piece reintroduces an air of mystery and possibility into our surroundings. The effect is achieved by using familiar building materials and adding in artistic elements such as hand blown glass and cast bronze.

Urban Mirror on Cornmarket Street (Coal Quay) by plattenbaustudio is a beautifully crafted large table with an atmospheric light that will provide a sculptural pavilion in a cultural corner of the city centre. It is inspired by the street’s vibrant history as a market place, and the current weekly Saturday Street Market from 10am-12pm. Made of durable and playful stainless steel, it has 16 fixed chairs and can seat up to fifty people. Its reflective nature will also light the square on a bright day. The elevated ball in the centre provides a focus from all directions. As the sun sets it will light up, giving a warm glow to the area.

Designed by architects Jennifer O’Donnell and Jonathan Janssens, and fabricated by Sara Murphy and Frank Prendergast of Space Forms Ltd. Urban Mirror is intended to be a space used by the public.

Tempus Futurum by Brian Kenny is a light projection on the Triskel Christchurch, that takes viewers on a journey through the building’s rich history, present and future. 

The remarkable, digitally mapped, moving image artwork is projected onto the South Main Street façade of the Georgian building, which is over 300 years old. Each evening from dusk, for up to seven months a year, the captivating 10-minute looped moving visuals will be projected for all to enjoy.  

Tempus Futurum is inspired by the motto “A society thrives when elders plant trees under whose shade they’ll never rest”. It delves into past, present, and an imminent future, exploring human impact on the environment.

Amidst this journey, the perspectives of 50 local schoolchildren breathe life into the projection, offering reflections on the building’s future. Their youthful imaginations visualise a world shaped by present actions – a reminder that our choices today echo into tomorrow’s legacy.

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

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

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).