Monthly Archives: September 2014

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 25 September 2014

Cork City Events, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized, Ward Events

761a. Recent sunny days in Fitzgerald's Park

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent

Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project 2014-15

25 September 2014

 

Founded in the school year 2002/ 2003, the year 2014-15 coincides with the 12th year of the Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project. Now launched for the new school term, The Project is open to schools in Cork; at primary level to the pupils of fourth, fifth and sixth class and at post-primary from first to sixth years. There are two sub categories within the post primary section, Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate. A student may enter as an individual or as part of a group or a part of a class entry.

 

One of the key aims of the project is to allow students to explore, investigate and debate their local heritage (built, archaeological, cultural and natural) in a constructive, active and fun way. Projects on any aspect of Cork’s rich heritage can be submitted to an adjudication panel. Prizes are awarded for best projects and certificates are given to each participant. A cross-section of projects submitted from the last school season can be gleamed from www.corkheritage.ie plus there are other resources and entry information as well on this website.

 

 Students produce a project on their local area using primary and secondary sources. Each participating student within their class receives a visit and workshop from myself, the co-ordinator in October 2014. The workshop comprises a guide to how to put a project together. Project material must be gathered in an A4/ A3 size project book. The project may be as large as the student wishes but minimum 20 pages (text + pictures + sketches).  Projects must also meet five elements. Projects must be colourful, creative, have personal opinion, imagination and gain publicity before submission. These elements form the basis of a student friendly narrative analysis approach where the student explores their project topic in an interactive and task oriented way. In particular students are encouraged to attain primary material generating primary material through engaging with fieldwork, interviews with local people, making models, photographing, cartoon creating, making DVDs of their area. Re-enacting is also a feature of several projects.

 

 Since 2003, the project has evolved in how students actually pursue local history. The project attempts to provide the student with a hands-on and interactive activity that is all about learning not only about heritage in your local area (in all its forms) but also about the process of learning by participating students. The project is about thinking about, understanding, appreciating and making relevant in today’s society the role of our heritage- our landmarks, our oral histories, our scenery in our modern world for upcoming citizens. So the project is about splicing together activity on issues of local history and heritage such as thinking, exploring, observing, discovering, researching, uncovering, revealing, interpreting and resolving.

 

The importance of doing a project in local history is also reflected in the educational aims of the history curricula of primary and post-primary schools. Local heritage is a mould, which helps the student to become familiar with their local environment and to learn the value of it in their lives. Learning to appreciate the elements of a locality, can also give students a sense of place in their locality or a sense of identity. Hence the Project can also become a youth forum for students to do research and offer their opinions on important decisions being made on their heritage in their locality and how they affect the lives of people locally. Over the years, I know a number of students that have been involved in the project in schools over the years who have took their interest further and have gone on to become professional tour guides, and into other related college work.

 

The project is open to many directions of delivery. Students are pressed to engage with their topic -in order to make sense of it, understand and work with it. Students continue to experiment with the overall design and plan of their work. For example in general, students who have entered before might engage with the attaining of primary information through oral histories. The methodologies that the students create provide interesting ways to approach the study of local heritage. Students are asked to choose one of two extra methods (apart from a booklet) to represent their work. The first option is making a model whilst the second option is making a DVD. It is great to see students using modern up todate technology to present their findings. This works in broadening their view of approaching their project.

 

This project is kindly funded by Cork Civic Trust (viz the help of John X. Miller), Cork City Council (viz the help of Niamh Twomey), and the Heritage Council. Prizes are also provided by the Lifetime Lab, Lee Road and Sean Kelly of Lucky Meadows Equestrian Centre, Watergrasshill (www.seankellyhorse.com). Overall, the Schools’ Heritage Project for the last twelve years has attempted to build a new concerned generation of Cork people, pushing them forward, growing their self-development empowering them to connect to their world and their local heritage. Spread the word please. See my website, www.corkheritage.ie for more details and application forms.

 

 

Caption:

761a. Recent sunny days in Fitzgerald’s Park (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Question to the City Manager/ CE and Motions, Cork City Council Meeting, 22 September 2014

Uncategorized

 

Question to the Manager/ CE:

 

To ask the CE about the future of the ex Shandon Craft Centre? What is the plan regarding this site going forward and the keen interest expressed in developing the site as a community hub by local community groups? (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

 

Motions:

That the Honan Mausoleum in St Finbarre’s Cemetery be repaired; it is in a dreadful condition (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

 

That Douglas Swimming Pool Carpark and Road be resurfaced as per the capital money put aside for it at last December’s budget (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project, 2014/15

Arts, Cork City Events, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized, Ward Events

 

Cllr Kieran McCarthy is encouraging students in the Cork area to enter the Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project, which has been launched for the 2014/ 15 school season. The Project, which is celebrating its twelfth year allows students to explore, investigate and debate their local heritage in a constructive, active and fun way. Interested students can pick any topic on Cork’s heritage to research and can participate as individuals, groups or as a class.  Students produce a project using primary material such as fieldwork, interviews, making models, DVDs of their area. 

Co-ordinator and founder of the project, Cllr Kieran McCarthy noted that “The project is about thinking about, understanding, appreciating and making relevant in today’s society the role of our heritage- our landmarks, our oral histories, our scenery in our modern world for upcoming citizens. So the project is about splicing together activity on issues of local history and heritage such as thinking, exploring, observing, thinking, discovering, researching, uncovering, revealing, interpreting and resolving. The Schools’ Heritage Project also focuses on motivating and inspiring young people, giving them an opportunity to develop leadership and self development skills, which are very important in the world we live in today.”

 

The City Edition of the Project is funded by Cork Civic Trust, Cork City Council, The Heritage Council, Evening Echo, Lifetime Lab, Sean Kelly of Lucky Meadows Equestrian Centre, Watergrasshill and Cllr Kieran McCarthy. Application forms to enter the project can be viewed on Cllr McCarthy’s heritage website, www.corkheritage.ie.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 18 September 2014

Cork City Events, Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized, Ward Events

760a. Summer rays, Fitzgerald's Park

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 18 September 2014

“Notes on a Park”

 

 

Finding myself sitting in Fitzgerald’s Park, creating a walking tour for culture night is engaging (Friday, 19 September, 5pm, at park stage, free). I observe my fellow but unknown companions, a woman reading a book while her young child plays with an imagined friend in the area by the Michael Collins statue, a man doing yoga by the river. In the distance two men sit on a bench by the pond chatting about aspects of life and children use the trees and bushes to create an imagined play world. Passing the Cork Museum there is the avid tourist with a map in her hand, entering to explore the wonders of Cork’s past.

 

On reflection the tourist’s map does not show the imaginary landscapes created in the mind of the people in the park. Indeed, the tourist’s map does not tell the real truth about the place. The reality is completely different. I recall reading once that maps are supposed to be an accepted part of everyday life and are a graphic representation of space. Maps have symbols – line spacings representing the lie of the land, perhaps the everydayness of a place – topography, water, road lengths, junctions, spot heights. In reality, those spacings are much different. Looking at a map of Fitzgerald’s Park, you never get that sense of sacredness, tranquillity, people coming and going, change and continuity, the whispered conversations to the outburst of laughter – a living place created by the human experience.

 

On my visit, I walk on, acknowledge and chat to a colleague about his research and travels in New Zealand. The pond with its Fr. Mathew Memorial fountain is imposing as the ducks hypnotically paddle around in a circle. My mind conjures up a memory, the trips with my parents, sister and brother to Fitzgerald’s Park, a haven of rest for many Corkonians and a familiar place of my childhood. Indeed, now growing older, thinking about jumping on the Shaky Bridge, feeding the birds in the pond and falling in, playing on the swings and slides and watching the world go by could be metaphors for time turning, a type of enjoying the moment but growing up and moving on. I have no doubt that I’m not the only Corkonian who has taken time out to appreciate the sacred composure of Fitzgerald’s Park and to use it to solve some of life’s problems.

 

With engaging with the historical development of the city, part of the process involves dealing with the familiar places like Fitzgerald’s Park that people know but also unravelling the narrative of the forgotten. Cork has many forgotten places that exist adjacent to well known cityscapes. Exploring these angles, I find that the notion of Cork as a city has always been reinvented. Exploring the architecture of Fitzgerald’s Park, there are elements that Cork has always been a cosmopolitan city within Western European culture, always staying in touch with aspects of modernisation, its history in a sense creating a worthy former European Capital of Culture. Looking at the physical landscape of the Park, there are clues to a forgotten and not so familiar past. The entrance pillars on the Mardyke, the Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, the museum, the fountain in the middle of the central pond dedicated to Fr Mathew and timber posts eroding in the river were once part of one of Cork’s greatest historical events, the Cork International Exhibitions of 1902 and 1903. Just like the magical spell of Fitzgerald’s Park, the Mardyke exhibitions were spaces of power. Revered, imagined and real spaces were created. They were marketing strategies where the past, present and future merged, Aesthetics of architecture, colour, decoration and lighting were all added to the sense of spectacle and in a tone of moral and educational improvement. The entire event was the mastermind of Cork Lord Mayor Edward Fitzgerald, after which the park got it name.

 

The wandering of my mind is broken by the crying of a child passing pining for an ice cream. It’s time to ramble on again. Passing by the famous swings and slides, they look so small to me now, as the parents and guardians nearby sit on the benches. Some stare into mid space, others chat and laughing, others shout and perhaps others remember their youthful spell within the Park. High above, the imposing Shaky Bridge stands as a testament of strength as a mother leaves her screaming children loose to jump on this great Cork institution. The River Lee, like the park’s pond, is hypnotic as it flows steadily towards the city centre past the familiar, forgotten, real and imagined spaces of one of Cork’s greatest landmarks Fitzgerald’s Park.

 

Other tour: I will also conduct a tour of the city side of the old line on Saturday evening, 20 September starting at 6.30pm (free) at the entrance on The Marina side adjacent the Main Drainage station of the Amenity Walk (as part of Cork Harbour Open Day). The Cork Blackrock and Passage Railway, which opened in 1850, was among the first of the Irish suburban railway projects.  Sir John Benjamin MacNeill, the engineer of the Cork Blackrock and Passage Railway, was appointed engineer-in-chief of many projects in Ireland including plans for 800 miles of railway.

 

Caption:

760a. Summer rays, Fitzgerald’s Park (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

Library Staffing Crisis, Cllr Kieran McCarthy

Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

Press Release, Cllr Kieran McCarthy, Comments made at Cork City Council Meeting, 8 September 2014

 

The retirement of three senior librarians in the Council’s library staff is a cause for concern. With nearly over one hundred years experience collectively, this city has lost their banks of knowledge. In a time, where culture and arts is blooming and booming in this city, and in a time where our libraries are actively rolling out great educational programmes, there is a staffing crisis in our libraries. You get the impression that some branches are just about staying opening – sudden sicknesses, maternity leave or general leave may result in a further reduction of hours across the city.

The closure of the local studies section for two days a week, has led to many foreign visitors seeking information on their family histories being turned away if they arrive on Monday or Tuesday. The queries of general scholars build up and lead staff catching up on the Wednesday. The closure of the mobile library in Blackrock and Mahon has led to many people not being able to access books to read, a process they enjoy. Plans are progressing to open up a new library in Mahon but at this point in time, there are no staff to man this very important piece of cultural infrastructure. I have called on the new Chief Executive to review the matter and come up with a sustainable plan going forward. Where we are at the moment does no justice to the great work our libraries do.  I am also worried as well that this will lead to a speeding up of the process of the amalgamation of the City and County Libraries Services, which I feel will be detrimental to both city and county. Both work fine without the city taking over the operation of libraries in the far reaches of the county. This is another matter that needs to be reviewed.

 

Secure the National Diaspora Centre for Cork

Uncategorized

Press Release, Cllr Kieran McCarthy, Comments made at Cork City Council Meeting, 8 September 2014

 

Cork City Council recently entered the completion to secure national funding to get a national diaspora centre for this city. As a city, we need to make sure that the centre stays on the wider agenda for progressing Cork and do all that we can to secure it. This centre is as important as the event centre and needs to be pushed for especially in light of the stiff competition from Drogheda and Limerick in the current competition process. Almost 90,000 overseas visitors came to Ireland last year to trace their Irish roots, spending as much as €61m in doing so, according to Fáilte Ireland. More than half of those visiting the country to trace their Irish heritage are from North America.

 

I believe that Cork city, should be the location for a new Irish Diaspora Centre, which will serve as the hub in Ireland for returning diaspora members. Over 250,000 people emigrated Cork Harbour after the Great Famine with countless others during the twentieth century. It is estimated that the Irish diaspora comprises of approximately 71 million Irish people across the world. The Irish Global Diaspora Centre is a major national and international undertaking. A centre like this can act as a major and sustainable stimulus for Cork into the future. I believe that progressing this project would help to re-invigorate any area of Cork City, and the reason why this city needs it.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 11 September 2014

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, National, Uncategorized

759a. This map published in The Irish Times, 26 May 1965 shows overlapping government regions

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 11 September 2014

“Technical Memories (Part 88) – A Nation of Regions”

 

“The Minister noted that industrial development called for even wider and more varied activity in the educational sphere, and the Cork City Vocational Education Committee had always been conscious of its responsibility to make sound and proper provision for technical and technician training accordingly. It now had provided the means for apprentice tradesmen to get proper training for the important industries of building and furniture” (journalist, Irish Times, 27 February, 1965, p.6).

The years 1963-1965 were key years for economic policy making in Ireland. The first Economic Programme published by the Government in November 1958 was a 50-page document containing general statements of government policy and giving an indication of the aids to production which the government proposed. The first part of the Second Programme for Economic Expansion was published in August 1963 and the second part in July 1964. The policy focused on expenditures for education, with a doubling of expenditures planned, and high production goals for the dairy industry.

The 1960s coincided with a major thrust in the development of technical education with the publication of Investment in Education in 1962 and Training of Technicians in Ireland in 1964. The then Minister for Education, Dr Patrick Hillery, in May 1963 signalled the Government’s intention to arrange with appropriate vocational education committees the provision of a limited number of technical colleges with regional status, the establishment of comprehensive schools and access by students to all public examinations.

In a Dáil Éireann speech on Wednesday, 5 February 1964, Dr Hillery, commented that the regional technical colleges were to provide courses for all three of the following: (a) The Technical Leaving Certificate, (b) Apprentice training and (c) High level technician training. The arrangement was to avoid as far as possible a duplication of staff and equipment. Regional Colleges were to cater on a nation-wide basis for various specialised occupations. The Minister envisaged about ten such colleges. In addition to Dublin (with two centres), Cork and Limerick, the long term was to have colleges at Waterford, Galway, Dundalk, Sligo, Athlone, and Carlow. He noted in the Dáil: “The establishing of these Regional Technical Colleges and courses involves the question of sites, plans, financing, building, syllabuses, staffing and organising generally. Planning in these regards is proceeding as rapidly as possible”.

 

Fast forward by a year and a journalist with The Irish Times outlines on 27 February 1965 the visit of Minister Hillery to Cork to open the Cork School of Building and Cork School of Furniture on Sawmill Street (the previous day). During his speech Dr Hillery outlined plans for various technical trades and commented that his department was committed to broadening the scope of technical education of all levels throughout the country through the provision of regional technical colleges. Minister Hillery noted that the government’s intention was that there would be reasonably large scholarship provision “to enable good students to avail themselves of the courses so that national progress would not be held back because of an inadequate supply of suitable qualified technical personnel”.

A significant factor in the provision of the new colleges was the organisation by An Cheard-Chomhairle of apprentice training. The furniture trades had already become designated trades by a decision of the Chomhairle. This meant that an educational standard had been set for admission to apprenticeships and a training schedule had been drawn up for apprentices, which included a certain amount of school work. The aims of An Cheard-Chomhairle for the raising of the standard of craftsmanship could not be achieved unless the proper facilities for schooling were provided. Government policy noted that for some trades, it was uneconomic and impracticable to have apprentice training facilities at every vocational school or even in every large centre of population. Accordingly, for the furniture trades, three regional centres for apprenticeship training were set up – a school in Cork, a section of Bolton Street College in Dublin, and the School at Navan, Co Meath. They aimed to improve standards of craftsmanship and rates of production. The Minister in Cork remarked of their need and the building activity across the country; “At a time when there were feverish signs of building activity to be seen in every town and village and sometimes also in the open spaces of the countryside, it was scarcely necessary to indicate how desirable and necessary it was to give the soundest possible basic training to young people in the various building trades. The building trades had not yet been declared designated but things were shaping that way”.

By May 1965 and the publication of the first progress report in the second programme for Economic Expansion, plans were advanced for the regional technical colleges. Tenders for the building of some of the colleges were to be invited by the end of that year. In addition, an OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, founded in 1961) survey on investment in Irish education was published to critique what areas of science policy should be advanced. It refers to a detailed and valuable report on “Technology and Technical Manpower” prepared by Cumann na n-Innealteoirí, which was to provide a framework for future engineering courses.

To be continued…

759a. This map published in The Irish Times, 26 May 1965 shows overlapping government regions; the black lines are the borders of the Bord Fáilte regions; the dotted lines represent the physical planning regions; the cities and towns named represent the sites of the new regional technical colleges (source: Cork City Library).

Kieran’s Historical Tours of Fitzgerald’s Park and Old Line

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

 

As part of Cork’s Culture Night on Friday 19 September, Cllr Kieran McCarthy will conduct a walking tour of Fitzgerald’s Park and its environs (new tour, 5pm, free, meet at Park stage, approx 1 hour). The park’s entrance pillars on the Mardyke, the Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, the museum, the fountain in the middle of the central pond dedicated to Fr Mathew and timber posts eroding in the river were once part of one of Cork’s greatest historical events, the Cork International Exhibitions of 1902 and 1903. Just like the magical spell of Fitzgerald’s Park, the exhibitions were spaces of power. Revered, imagined and real spaces were created. They were marketing strategies where the past, present and future merged, Aesthetics of architecture, colour, decoration and lighting were all added to the sense of spectacle and in a tone of moral and educational improvement. The entire event was the mastermind of Cork Lord Mayor Edward Fitzgerald, after whom the park got its name.

 

Interested in finding out more on the Old Cork-Blackrock and Passage Railway Line and its connection to Cork Harbour? Cllr Kieran McCarthy will conduct a tour of the city side of the old line on Saturday evening, 20 September starting at 6.30pm at the entrance on The Marina side adjacent the Main Drainage station of the Amenity Walk. The tour is free (approx 1 1/2 hours, as part of Cork Harbour Open Day) and is open to all. South east Cork City is full of historical gems; the walk not only talks about the history of the line but also the history of the villages and harbour that surround the old line itself.

 

The Cork Blackrock and Passage Railway, which opened in 1850, was among the first of the Irish suburban railway projects. The original terminus, designed by Sir John Benson was based on Victoria Road but moved in 1873 to Hibernian Road. The entire length of track between Cork and Passage was in place by April 1850 and within two months, the line was opened for passenger traffic. In May 1847, low embankments, which were constructed to carry the railway over Monarea Marshes (Albert Road-Marina area), was finished. In Blackrock, large amounts of material were removed and cut at Dundanion to create part of the track there. Due to the fact that the construction was taking place during the Great Famine, there was no shortage of labour. A total of 450 men were taken on for the erection of the embankments at the Cork end of the line. Another eighty were employed in digging the cutting beyond Blackrock. These and other stories feature on Kieran’s tour.

Kieran’s Question to the City Manager and Motions, Cork City Council Meeting, 8 September 2014

Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

 

Question to the Manager/ CE:

To ask the manager what is the plan to improve the aesthetics of the trough on either side of the displayed town wall in Bishop Lucey Park; the empty troughs look terrible (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

 

 

 

Motions:

That Cork City Council carry out the agreement to resurface the rest of the resident’s carparks in Greenhills Estate, as agreed with residents (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).

 

That Cork City Council carry out the agreement to provide adequate traffic calming measures on Boreenmanna Road (as part of recent works) and a safe crossing near the Willow Lawn junction, as agreed with residents (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).