Monthly Archives: February 2018

Severe Weather Update, 28 February 2018

Cork City Council Press Release
SEVERE WEATHER UPDATE
February 28th, 2018 – 5.38PM
In acknowledgment of deteriorating weather conditions and in view of public warnings issued nationally today, Cork City Council wishes to advise the public that only essential Council services will be provided on Thursday 1st March and Friday 2nd March (subject to review).
Cork City Council carparking services will not be available as follows:
·         Paul Street Car park
·         North Main Street Car park
·         Black Ash Park and Ride
Weather conditions will be kept under review and some carparking services may become available as weather improves on Friday. The Council will keep the public informed as normal parking services resume.
The following City Council offices, facilities and services will not be available on Thursday and Friday:
·         City Hall and New Civic Offices
·         All public parks
·         Public swimming pools
·         Cork Archives
·         Libraries
·         Public Museum
·         Elizabeth Fort
·         St Peters Cork
·         Lifetime Lab
·         Civic Amenity Kinsale Road
Should you require assistance in the event of an emergency, please note the following numbers:

Roads or Flooding issues                  1800 28 30 34
Housing Maintenance                       021-4298710 (from 9am, Thursday 1
March)

Irish Water                                        1850278278
City Council continues to advise the public to make appropriate preparations for the severe weather forecast for the next number of days. The Council is asking members of the public to be  to be mindful of the elderly and vulnerable within their community as the severe weather continues.
The Council’s Severe Weather Assessment Team will continue to keep matters under review as the severe weather continues and further updates will issue as required.

Kieran’s Question to CE, Cork City Council Meeting, 26 February 2018

Question to CE:

To ask the CE for an update on the Marina Park development todate? (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

Motions:

That the City Council review the safety of pedestrians in Ballintemple Village. Regular speeding is not helped by fact it is still 50kph through the village. It suffers from poor design with zero traffic calming features. Sweeping bends, irregular parking, limited crossings points, dangerous bus stops all feature. Crab Lane road to the local school is also devoid of footpaths making it very dangerous at school times (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

That the City Council patch as appropriate the larger potholes in Greenhills Estate (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

Award Ceremonies, Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project 2018

   Local historian Cllr Kieran McCarthy has announced that the date for the Cork City schools’ award ceremony of the Discover Cork Schools’ Heritage Project is Wednesday 28 February (7pm, Concert Hall, City Hall) whilst the county schools’ award ceremony is on Thursday 1 March (7pm, Silversprings Convention Centre). A total of 39 schools in Cork took part in the 2018 Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project, which included Schools in Ballinlough and Douglas. Circa 750 students participated in the process with approx 180 projects books submitted on all aspects of Cork’s local history heritage. The Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project, in its fifteenth year is 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.  The aim of the project is to allow students to explore, investigate and debate their local heritage in a constructive, active and fun way.

    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 landscapes in our modern world for upcoming citizens. The 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 City Council with further sponsorship offered by Learnit Lego Education, Cllr Kieran McCarthy, Lifetime Lab and Sean Kelly of Lucky Meadows Equestrian Centre. Full results for the City edition and the County edition of the project are online on Cllr McCarthy’s heritage website, www.corkheritage.ie.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 22 February 2018

 

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 22 February 2018

Stories from 1918: Liam De Róiste’s Campaign

 

      This week, one hundred years ago, a public meeting was held on 24 February 1918 under the auspices of the Whitechurch Sinn Féin Club in the village Dispensary Hall. Vice-chairman of Sinn Féin in Cork and Gaelic scholar Liam de Róiste was the guest speaker.

Liam De Róiste (1882-1959) was born in Tracton, County Cork and was prominently identified with the Cork branch of the Gaelic League movement. He was a founder member of it in 1899 and his interaction with the League was strong over many years. He was also the founder of the Celtic Literary Society which brought together in Cork City a group of men destined to win later fame. These included such men as Cork’s martyred Lord Mayors, Terence MacSwiney and Tomás MacCurtain, brothers P S O’Hegarty and Seán O’Hegarty and Daniel Corkery, the playwright and novelist. Hand in hand with this activity was Liam’s love of the Irish language. He was in turn secretary and chairman of the Gaelic League in Cork, and a friend of such people as Dr Eoin MacNeill and Dr Douglas Hyde, the latter who became Ireland’s first President. In later years he was the founder and for many years secretary of Coláiste na Mumhan, an institution, which played such an outstanding part in the spread of the language. He was chairman of the first meeting of Sinn Féin in Cork at which attended Sir Roger Casement and Eoin MacNeill.

    Liam De Róiste’s obituary in Irish newspaper in 1959 highlight that he was an original member of the Irish Volunteers and took part in the now historic march to Macroom on Easter Sunday 1916. Later, he helped to smuggle in rifles from London for distribution to the IRA. In late 1916 and throughout 1917 Liam De Róiste was important glue to keep the re-organisation of Sinn Féin going in Cork, especially with Terence McSwiney and Tomás MacCurtain being imprisoned for long periods of time during the years 1916-1918. Liam De Róiste kept the re-organisation of the party strong, being involved in organising rallies in Cork in late 1917 for Arthur Griffith, Countess Markievicz, and Eamon DeValera. He also wrote a diary, copies of which are digitised on the website of Cork City and County Archives. The diary entries are long in 1916 and early 1917 and veer to limited commentary in late 1917.

     Liam De Róiste’s speech in Whitechurch on 24 February 1918 highlighted many of his interests and campaigns. In his opening remarks he noted that the object of the Sinn Féin movement was the sovereign independence of Ireland; “Sinn Féin claimed for Ireland as a right the same measure of liberty at least as the Western Powers of Europe claimed for Belgium. They claimed for Ireland as a right self-determination in the fullest and freest sense and to take advantage of the World War I quest for peace talks; “No physical force on earth, not all the militarism of all the Empires could ultimately beat the determined spirit of a nation. But as sensible men it behoved us to take full advantage of affairs abroad, of the international situation to press our claim for sovereign independence before the nations of the world”.

     Continuing, Mr De Róiste dealt with Sinn Féin political campaign calling for retention of food at Irish ports. He warned his listeners against what he deemed “the lies and misrepresentations that had been spread by political enemies of Sinn Féin”. He made a strong appeal for the conservation of food and increase of tillage. He claimed that efforts were being made, particularly in Cork county, to create a bad feeling between farmers and farm labourers as a means of injuring the Sinn Féin movement. He himself as President of the Sinn Féin Executive had been challenged by the Cork Examiner” as to whether he favoured strikes or not.

     Referring to the recent speech of Irish Parliamentary Party John Dillon, Liam De Róiste claimed that the Irish Convention on Home Rule was unlikely to produce a unanimous report, or frame a constitution that would be acceptable, to any section of the Irish people. “The only law the Irish people recognised was the moral law, and within the limits of the moral law they would fight the English Government in every department for the control of this country, which was theirs”. He also spoke of the heavy burden of taxation on the country, proposing that it would be heavier when the war concluded. He pitched that even as a business proposition the absolute independence of Ireland was desirable.

            Mr Tadgh Barry also addressed the meeting, and said they were out to win for Ireland the right to govern herself. Sinn Féin stood for the moral right of Ireland, which meant the removal of England’s wrong-doing towards her; “Neither John Redmond nor William O’Brien wanted Home Rule, or any of the same class who desired the continuance of Dublin Castle rule in the country”. He warned the people against the circulation of what he deemed “lying statements, which were circulated to set the farmer against the labourer, and to make the workers distrustful of each other”. Hence, he advocated the establishment of arbitration courts to settle, local differences.

 

Captions:

934a. Liam De Róiste, c.1918 (source: Cork City Library)

934b. Liam De Róiste and JJ Walsh, 1918, from Cork City and County Archives’, Voices of the Many, Local Archives from Cork, 1914-1916 (2016)

 

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 15 February 2018

933a. Alfred Hutson, c.1891

 

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 15 February 2018

Stories from 1918: The Cork Fire Brigade

 

    This week, one hundred years ago, a fire of serious dimensions occurred on 13 February 1918 in Messrs Baker and Company extensive confectionary works on French Church Street. The conflagration spread with alarming rapidly through a portion of the premises sharing the Carey’s Lane side of the building – it became enveloped and there was a further extension of flames into the area in the direction of Paul Street.

   It was about 7.45pm when an outbreak was detected, and the Fire Brigade was promptly summoned. Under the charge of Captain Hudson, the Brigade with full equipment was quickly on the scene and in a brief space of time set to work to extinguish the flames. A large force of police immediately arrived and took up positions at different points between St Patrick’s Street, Paul Street, Academy Street, Carey’s Lane and French Church Street.

   There were no less than eight lines of hose at work and by the aid of the fire escapes the firemen and military, as well as the firm’s employees, were able to perform a vast share of their duties from the roofs of the buildings in each street. After three hours’ hard work the outbreak was finally under control but not before the middle section of the building had been completely gutted. The outer portions of the premises, those at the St Patrick Street and Paul Street ends, were saved.

    Captain Alfred Hudson was the backbone of the City’s fire brigade during that eventful evening. He arrived to Cork in 1891 and retired in 1928 – a total of 37 years’ service in Cork. Local historian Pat Poland’s book For Whom the Bells Tolled and Cork Examiner reports through the years reveal that Cork Corporation established Cork City Fire Brigade in 1877. The first fire station was at 20 South Mall, where the Corporation offices were then situated, but it was soon moved to the site at Sullivan’s Quay. Facilities were certainly limited to say the least. The site was an open one with a small office which operated as a duty room.

   Captain Mark Wickham who was an inspector of the fire escapes in Dublin had the enormous task of organising the activities of the insurance companies’ brigades while in the South Mall. After a time it became usual for this brigade to respond to any fire calls whether it was an insured premises or not. This arrangement suited the Corporation and lasted from Captain Wickham’s appointment in 1877 until in the late 1880’s when the insurance companies decided they had undertaken too much in accepting responsibilities for everyone’s fires. What emerged was a free service without any public financial aid needed towards the upkeep of the service.

   The site at the South Mall remained open up to 1894 and the equipment consisted of a horse-drawn hose reel, a jumping sheet and a fire escape. Captain Wickham remained in office until 1891 when he was succeeded by Captain Alfred Hutson who was appointed Superintendent of the Cork Corporation Fire Brigade. A former station officer in Brighton Fire Brigade and having served in the London Metropolitan Fire Brigade, he was well equipped to handle the problems he encountered in Cork.

   In Cork Alfred Hutson first initiated a building and re-organisation programme. He increased the staff to seven men and ten part-time auxiliaries, the latter being selected from Corporation employees. The present Quay Co-Op, now the red bricked fire station at Sullivan’s Quay was built in 1893 during his early years of service in Cork.

   The training of the auxiliary staff was undertaken and they were then employed on outside duties such as theatres, bazaars, etc. They were summoned by a system of call bells. Captain Hutson between the years of 1891 and 1894 organised volunteer fire brigades among the students of Queens College (UCC) and in 1892 a volunteer fire brigade of prominent businessmen was also formed.

   Two additional fire stations were opened during Captain Hutson’s reign at the rear of the Courthouse on Grattan Street and at the top of Shandon Street. The men were full time firemen in every respect as they were on duty 24 hours of the day seven days of the week. New entrants had to live in accommodation provided on the station premises so in an emergency whether he was on or off duty, the fireman had to turn out for work. The engines at this time were two Merryweather steam pumps, which were drawn by teams of horses and these were purchased in 1892. In St Patrick Street a central street station was located with rescue equipment and one man on duty all night.

   In addition, large rescue equipment was located at strategic locations in the City. The Brigade at that time consisted of six regular men and two Turncocks living on the station with six auxiliary firemen, all Corporation employees, and with local volunteers in all a force of 30 men could be mustered in a few minutes. A report from the Chief at the time suggested that a night response took about 2.5 minutes with men fully dressed and horses out.

Captions:

933a. Alfred Hutson, c.1891 from P Poland, For Whom the Bells Tolled (source: Local Studies, Cork City Library)

933b. Quay Co-Op, former Fire Brigade Station, Sullivan’s Quay, Cork (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

 

933b. Quay Co-Op, former Fire Brigade Station, Sullivan’s Quay, Cork

Kieran’s Question to CE & Motions, Cork City Council Meeting, 12 February 2018

Question to CE:

To ask the CE about what communication has occurred with the HSE to move forward the site of the former St Kevin’s Hospital away from dereliction to some form of use? (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

Motions:

That the City Council apply for central government funding to replace the 500 trees felled by Storm Ophelia (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

That the City Council re-iterate the points in discussion with private developers the protected status of the Port of Cork building and the bonded warehouses (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 8 February 2018

 

932a. Front façade of former Cork Library, South Mall

 

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 8 February 2018

Stories from 1918: The Pembroke Street Library

 

   Two owls on a coffee shop entrance and a date 1792 are the only remnants of the Cork Subscription Library on Pembroke Street.  At the annual meeting of the subscribers to the Cork Library, Pembroke street, held on 4 February 1918 Michael Murphy, Solicitor and Honorary Secretary read the auditors’ report, which was published by the Cork Examiner a day later. A profit of £45 l6s 3d was made comprising £22 in additional subscriptions and £17 for the sale of waste paper.

   Three years previously in 1915 the library had been put into a “good condition of repair”, with the result that there was no expenditure under repairs for 1917. The salaries of the librarian and assistant had not been increased since the war commenced. At the 1918 meeting salary rises was one of the principal themes. An increase in the subscription of 4s a year was proposed i.e. from £1 1s to £l 5s. The alternative to an increased subscription would be to cut down the supplies of papers, periodicals, magazines, etc. According to Mr Murphy, Cork Library offered advantages far greater than such libraries in other large centres, and where the subscription was up to £2 2s. Canon Tracy said that subscribers were very pleased with the manner in which the library was conducted at the time, and the committee and officials had “carried out their duty well”. As regards the increase in the rate of subscription, considering the valuable services given in the library, he was “surprised that the proposal was not more than 4s”.

   On the motion of Canon Tracy and seconded by Dr E Murphy, the President of the Library, Professor William F Stockley, was unanimously re-elected, and Mr Coroner Horgan, solicitor, Honorary Treasurer. In 1905, Professor Stockley has been appointed professor of English at University College Cork. He occupied the chair until his retirement in 1931. He was president of the Cork Literary and Scientific Society from 1913 to 1915 and President of the Cork Library Committee from 1913 to 1930.

    Unique in the country, the Cork Subscription Library was founded at a time when books were scarce, expensive and not easily attainable. The library catered successfully throughout its long period of use, for the reading wants of many generations of Cork men and women. The brightest and best in the intellect of Cork were closely associated with the Cork Library ever since its inception. In 1792 the library was based on Cook Street to begin with and then new premises were designed by noted architect Thomas Deane.

   In 1801 the library had eight life members and 143 ordinary members. The committee for that year comprised notable Cork personages – Dean St Lawrence, President, Dr John Longfield, Vice-President; Doctors Charles Daly, Richard Walsh, J Bennett, T Bell, and Messrs A Lane, S Wiley, J Spearing, St Leger Aldworth, W Trant, T Rochfort, S Richardson, P Stacpole, Mr Maxwell, H Wallis, B Bousfield, N Mahon, and E Penrose. Dr T Westropp was treasurer.

   The library catalogue in 1801 ran to a volume of 31 pages and had 627 items – History, Antiquities and Geography (146), Biography (38), Politics and Political Economy (21), Morality (13), Law (4), Divinity, Sermons (7), Metaphysics and Arts (62), Medicine, Surgery, Anatomy and Chemistry (83), Natural History, Minerology, Botany, and agriculture (26), Voyages and Travels (84), Belles Lettres, Poetry, Criticism, and Miscellany (108), Novels and Romances (25), and Dictionaries and Grammars (10). By 1820 the number of books in the catalogue had risen to 2,013 with membership growing to 385.

   Any person wishing to become a member of the library had to be proposed by a library member and seconded by another. After his and their names had been exhibited for five days in a part of the library, the subscription for the year of one guinea, together with the admission money of half a guinea had to be deposited with the treasurer. The proposed member was then balloted for in Committee, and if a majority of those present appeared in favour of him, he could be admitted. On signing the rules, he was entitled to all the privileges of a member of the society. The names of ladies, however, were not posted up, but kept in a closed book. The library was to be open for members of the library to read and send for books from 11am to 5pm from 1 February to the 1 November; and from 11am to 4pm from 1 November to 1 February except Sundays, Christmas Day, and Good Friday, Members could only take one book unless an additional subscription of half a guinea for an additional book.

   By the year of the Cork Subscription Library’s closing in 1938, the reading room had upwards of 20,000 volumes of general literature, the daily and weekly newspapers, periodicals, illustrated papers and magazines. The library contained a central, spacious and comfortable writing room, ladies’ rooms and gentlemen’s smoking room. The members of a subscriber’s family were entitled to the full privileges of the Library whilst the annual subscription was £2.

 

Captions:

932a. Front façade of the former Cork Subscription Library, South Mall (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

932b. The owls of Pembroke Street (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

McCarthy: Summer 2018 slated for Tramore Valley Park Opening

 

     Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has welcomed the response of the Director of Recreation and Environment of Cork City Council David Joyce that Tramore Valley Park is on track to open to the public in the summer of 2018. In reply to a question at the last City Council meeting by Cllr McCarthy, Mr Joyce outlined that there are several health and safely concerns that need to be resolved before the site opens to the public.

    Cllr McCarthy has remained consistent in lobbying to get the park open; he noted; “vast amounts of public money has been invested to transform this former landfill into a c.160 acre public park. An extra allocation of funding within the City Council’s 2018 budget has allowed for the opening of the park. I remain committed to putting pressure on the officials to open this significant park area, which will serve all of the city and beyond its boundaries”.

Cork Bridges and Funding 2018

Cork City Council Press Release, 1 December 2018:

Three of Cork’s most important heritage bridges are to undergo either restoration or significant maintenance works this year.

St Patrick’s Bridge:
Cork City Council, in conjunction with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), is to begin preliminary works on the repair and rehabilitation of the iconic St. Patrick’s Bridge next week.

This bridge is representative of 19th century design and construction and its restoration will be sympathetic to these values as well as to its unique heritage and historical importance. It is expected that the €1.2 million works will have minimal impact on pedestrian and traffic movement and will be undertaken in two phases.

SSE Airtricity Utility Solutions Ltd. has been selected by Cork City Council to undertake phase 1 preliminary works and they have appointed renowned Italian lighting restoration specialists, Neri to complete the project. Neri has worked extensively in Dublin including on lighting restoration at O’Connell Bridge. The existing four heritage standards (lamp columns) on St Patrick’s Bridge will be removed during the week commencing February 5th and an additional four standards, currently in storage, will be sent to Italy for repair and restoration.

This will involve returning the columns to their original unpainted bare metal state, repairing weather damage, protecting and repainting the standards. As part of this process, moulds will also be created to make additional duplicates columns. Upon completion, the 12 restored/replicated standards will be returned to the bridge in September complete with new lantern heads with LED fittings where they will be remounted just as when the bridge was first built. In the interim period, six standard temporary lighting columns will be put in place to help illuminate the footpaths during darkness.

Cork City Council is in the process of issuing a tender for phase two of the works which it expects will begin in early May. This phase of the works involves the removal of all vegetation and algae from the bridge, the cleaning and repair of all stonework and the re-pointing of missing or defective masonry joints. Proposed works also include the replacement of the footpath and carriageway surfacing together and new road markings. Existing traffic lights, elevation and architectural lighting and directional signage will also be upgraded.

It is expected that all works to St. Patrick’s Bridge will be completed by mid October.

St Vincent’s Bridge:
A tender is also due to be launched next month for critical maintenance work on St Vincent’s Bridge which connects the North Mall and Sunday’s Well to the junction of Bachelor’s Quay and Grenville Place. Detailed design to assure the continued usage of this bridge is being progressed. As part of these works, lighting on the bridge will also be improved.

Daly’s Bridge:
Refurbishment works will also begin on the iconic Daly’s Bridge in September this year to repair extensive corrosion and damage.

A tender has been launched seeking consultants to undertake design and civil works preparation. It is intended to award this contract by the end of next month. A contract for the civil works will be tendered in the coming months with a programme of works likely to start on site in September. The Department for Transport, Tourism and Sport is funding the project.