Cllr Kieran McCarthy invites all Cork young people to participate in the ninth year of McCarthy’s Make a Model Boat Project. All interested must make a model boat at home from recycled materials and bring it along for judging to The Lough on Thursday 24 May 2018, 6.30pm. The event is being run in association with Meitheal Mara and the Cork Harbour Festival. There are three categories, two for primary and one for secondary students. The theme is ‘Cork’s Future Boats’, which is open to interpretation. There are prizes for best models and the event is free to enter. Cllr McCarthy, who is heading up the event, noted “I am encouraging creation, innovation and imagination amongst our young people, which are important traits for all of us to develop”. In addition, Cllr McCarthy emphasises that places like The Lough are an important part of Cork’s natural and amenity heritage. For further information and to take part, please sign up at www.corkharbourfestival.com.
Meitheal Mara’s Cork Harbour Festival will bring together the City, County and Harbour agencies and authorities. It connects our city and coastal communities. Combining the Ocean to City Race and Cork Harbour Open Day, there are over 50 different events in the festival for people to enjoy – both on land and on water. The festival begins on Saturday, 2 June with the flagship race Ocean to City – An Rás Mór and then runs till Sunday 10 June. Join thousands of other visitors and watch the hundreds of participants race from Crosshaven to Blackrock to Cork City in a spectacular flotilla. Cllr McCarthy noted: “During the festival week embark on a journey to explore the beautiful Cork Harbour – from Mahon Estuary to Roches Point – and enjoy free harbour tours, sailing tasters, open days at heritage sites, and lots more; we need to link the city and areas like Blackrock and the Marina and the harbour more through branding and tourism. The geography and history of the second largest natural harbour in the world creates an enormous treasure trove, which we need to harness, celebrate and mind. On 9 June I am hosting a new historical walking tour on the bridges of Cork. More details can be found on my walking tour section at www.kieranmccarthy.ie”.
By 18 April 1918, the British House of Commons had passed the Military Service Bill, which empowered the British Government to enforce conscription –service became compulsory in the British Forces for all men of military age in Ireland was adopted. This was the catalyst for a mobilisation of Nationalist Ireland to resist what was seen as a gross imposition by another country of unacceptable measures upon Irishmen against their will.
All newspapers of the day reported on the Conference of Nationalist and Republican leaders held on 18 April in in the Mansion House, Dublin. Union leaders, the Irish Parliamentary Party and Sinn Féin were all present and agreed a pledge against conscription. John Dillon and Joseph Devlin represented the Irish Parliamentary Party, Éamon de Valera and Arthur Griffith for Sinn Féin, William O’Brien and Timothy Michael Healy for the All-for-Ireland Party and Michael Egan, Thomas Johnson and W X O’Brien representing Labour and the Trade Unions. The Pledge that was to be taken read: “Denying the right of the British Government to enforce compulsorily service in this Country, we pledge ourselves solemnly to one another to resist conscription by the most effective means at our disposal”.
On the evening of the same day, the Roman Catholic bishops held their annual meeting and declared the conscription decree an oppressive and unjust law. Dublin’s Archbishop William J Walsh and his fellow bishops issued a statement condemning conscription, saying: “We feel bound to warn the government against entering upon a policy so disastrous to the public interest and to all order, public or private”.
Sunday 21 April 1918 day was appointed by resolution of the Irish Hierarchy to host anti-conscription pledge at Masses of to avert the scourge of conscription. Several churches throughout Cork City took part. Bishop Cohalan administered the pledge to the thousands of men assembled outside the North Cathedral after the noon Mass. Across the city at the South Chapel, subsequent to all the Masses the anti-conscription pledge, was administered. There were large congregations, and at the conclusion of the Intercession Mass at 12noon, which was celebrated by Father McSweeney, CC, a public meeting was held outside the church gate, which had a large attendance.
On 20 April, an emergency conference in Dublin by the Irish Trade Union Congress was attended by 1,500 delegates who decided to hold a general strike on 23 April. Hundreds of thousands signed the anti-conscription pledge, and the strike resulted in factories, shops, schools and other workplaces closing. Protests were held on the streets of Irish cites.
In Cork, the twenty-four hours were observed with a rigid faithfulness to a united protest against the imposition of conscription in Ireland. There was an entire suspension of business across the city. No trains on any of the lines converging on Cork termini entered or left the city. Steamboats remained idle at shipways and wharves. All shops of every description shut down with perhaps one of two exceptions. Licensed premises were unopened even during the hours customary on Sundays. No trams ran on any of the suburban lines from midnight on Monday till the ordinary hour of starting on Wednesday – in short, the commercial and industrial life of the city was for one whole day at a standstill.
The prominent feature of the day was a monster meeting of Trade Unionists general workers and labour en masse on the Grand Parade. It was immense in its proportions, and the various sections paraded and were played to the venue by many of the city bands, brass and reed, drum and fife, and the pipers. The weather was dry with a high wind, and this suited the evolutions of a large bi-plane that soared above and about the immediate vicinity of the members. After the meeting ended, and the people dispersed, tables were set up at many points, so people could sign the anti-conscription pledge. Voluntary workers presided over the tables and provided pencils and papers for the signatures. Tables were occupied until late in the evening.
The stoppage of trains did not deter people from districts about Cork from coming in and taking part in the general protest. Bicycles, cars, and wagonettes were requisitioned wholesale, and vast numbers from the country spent the-day in the city. Estimates in the press of the total number that attended the big meeting on the Grand Parade vary between twenty and thirty thousand.
The women’s meeting of protest at the City Hall was also deemed the largest of its kind ever seen in Cork. Held within Cork City Hall overflow gatherings grew rapidly in the vestibule and onto the street.
Theatre’s and other places of amusement in the city also closed down in the evening. This in part accounted for the increased crowds that also paraded the streets, perhaps in a less unofficial manner, in the evening. By 10.30pm, however, nearly all had gone back to their homes.
Due to the clear intent of Nationalist Ireland to resist such an imposition the British Government did not implement the Manpower Act. The War ended some months later in November 1918 (more on this in forthcoming columns).
Kieran’s Upcoming Historical Walking Tours
Saturday 28 April, The Victorian Quarter; tour of the area around St Patrick’s Hill – Wellington Road and MacCurtain Street; meet on the Green at Audley Place, top of St Patrick’s Hill, 12noon (free, duration: two hours, finishes by St Patrick’s Church, Lower Road)
Sunday 6 May 2018, The City Workhouse; learn about the workhouse created for 2,000 impoverished people in 1841; meet at the gates of St Finbarr’s Hospital, Douglas Road, 2.30pm (free, duration: two hours, on site tour), in association with the National Famine Commemoration, 2018, Cork.
Caption:
943a. Anti-conscription document pinned to door of churches across Cork (source: National Library Dublin).
The political fallout of the Manpower Bill and its proposal to create forced conscription of males over thirty years of age to the British army led to mass anti-conscription meetings and campaigns across Ireland. The minutes of the Cork Harbour Commissioners meeting on 18 April 1918, as published in the Cork Examiner, reveals the non-black and white, and complex challenges within the wider public debate. Mr Daniel Lucy, chairman, presided with Mr Coroner John Horgan, noting that he had a resolution to propose on the question of conscription.
John Horgan moved: “That we declare that the English Parliament has no moral or legal right to conscript the people of Ireland. We claim, in accordance with the principle of self-determination and liberty (or small nationalities, for which England is alleged to be waging this war) that the Irish nation can only be conscripted by a freely elected Irish Parliament, and we call upon the Nationalist leaders to unite in formulating a common policy against the attempt to finally decimate our nation; and that a copy of this resolution be wired to the Lord Mayor of Dublin, as Chairman of tomorrow’s conference”.
Irish society was faced, John Horgan described, with a “terrible and tragic situation”. “It was only right that the people should be under no delusion. The English Government had neither legal nor moral right to pass this Act for Ireland”. He highlighted the years of struggle that went on in the House of Commons to carry through a moderate measure of self-government for Ireland; “There were three general elections, the veto of the House of Lords was abolished, and though it was the will of the people, the bill did not pass”. He blamed a small minority in the north-east of Ireland who would not be coerced to accept self-government.
Mr Patrick O’Brien seconded the motion whilst stating that the proposed conscription of the “manhood of Ireland” was an outrage, and then subsequently drew upon the concept of previous sacrifices being made detailing that after the Great Famine years the population dwindled from 9 ½ to 4½ million through death and emigration. His opinion was that “for every one man England would get from Ireland she would have to get two to preserve the peace”.
Mr Charles Furlong felt they should not pass the resolution. He considered that the case against England had not been fairly put. The British Parliament, was still ruling Ireland, and having conscripted England and Scotland, was only asking Ireland to carry out the same laws. “Numbers of people in Ireland had sent their best to help England in the war, and why should not other people do the same thing; If England is beaten in this war Germany will rule England and Ireland, and Irishmen would feel very sorry tor themselves if they did not help England in the war, and perform their duty to King and country”.
Mr B Haughton endorsed the remarks of Mr Furlong and thought that the agitation taking place showed that their “kith and kin” in the trenches were largely overlooked. He described that at that moment in time the Germans were advancing slowly but steadily with Messines Ridge in their possession. Mr Haughton proceeded to critique statements made by Mr Horgan in August 1914, in which he said he quoted that “Ireland’s interests are bound up with England, and that they should stand or fall together”.
Alderman Jeremiah Kelleher was of the opinion that Germany should not beat England. However, he said that every party in Ireland – national and labour was– “united in the issue to resist this imposition on the people against, the will of the majority”. Referencing Mr Furlong comment to his duty to “King and Country”, Alderman Kelleher highlighted that he knew the country and his duty to it, but after last night’s act he did not know the King; “The national and labour element, Belfast included, were united, and the democracy of Ireland would loyally obey the order of the Conference of their leaders”.
Mr Dennehy reiterated that the national and labour element of Ireland were not going to allow England, under any circumstances, to fool the people any longer. He advised the people to be cautious, and not to rush into any act “that would give the capitalistic classes the chance to massacre them”. He continued; “Belfast labour is as loyal on the issue as any other part of Ireland, and they would let England see that if this north-east corner was not to be coerced into Home Rule, the rest of Ireland was not to be coerced into Conscription. After this meeting the people of Cork would see that two members of the Board were in favour of conscripting the people against their will and could henceforward recognise them as their enemies”.
The Chairman, Daniel Lucy, declared the resolution passed. He thought the action of the Government would mean its death-warrant before many months; “The Conference of the Irish leaders would advise the country what to do, and the people, who were determined to resist to the death this terrible tyrannical act of the English Government would adopt their advice”.
Kieran’s April Historical Walking Tours
Saturday 21 April, Stories from Blackrock, tour of Blackrock Village, from Blackrock Castle to Nineteenth Century Houses and Fishing; meet at Blackrock Castle, 12noon (free, 2 hours, finishes near railway line walk, Blackrock Road)
Saturday 28 April, The Victorian Quarter; tour of the area around St Patrick’s Hill – Wellington Road and MacCurtain Street; meet on the Green at Audley Place, top of St Patrick’s Hill, 12noon (free, duration: two hours, finishes by St Patrick’s Church, Lower Road)
Sunday 6 May 2018, The City Workhouse; learn about the workhouse created for 2,000 impoverished people in 1841; meet at the gates of St Finbarr’s Hospital, Douglas Road, 2.30pm (free, duration: two hours, on site tour), in association with the National Famine Commemoration, 2018, Cork.
Caption:
942a. Boardroom, Cork Harbour Commissioners, c.1918, from Cork: Its Chamber and Commerce, 1919 (source: Cork City Library)
Saturday 21 April, Stories from Blackrock, tour of Blackrock Village, from Blackrock Castle to Nineteenth Century Houses and Fishing; meet at Blackrock Castle, 12noon (free, 2 hours, finishes near railway line walk, Blackrock Road)
Saturday 28 April, The Victorian Quarter; tour of the area around St Patrick’s Hill – Wellington Road and MacCurtain Street; meet on the Green at Audley Place, top of St Patrick’s Hill, 12noon (free, duration: two hours, finishes by St Patrick’s Church, Lower Road)
Sunday 6 May 2018, The City Workhouse; learn about the workhouse created for 2,000 impoverished people in 1841; meet at the gates of St Finbarr’s Hospital, Douglas Road, 2.30pm (free, duration: two hours, on site tour), in association with the National Famine Commemoration, 2018, Cork.
On 27 March 1918, David Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister, presented to his cabinet plans to raise a further 555,000 men for the war effort of which 150,000 were expected to come from Ireland. On 9 April 1918 in his speech in the House of Commons Mr Lloyd George introduced the Westminster’s Government’s new Man Power Bill. The provisions included conscription for Ireland. The text of the Military Service Bill also provided that any man who at the passing of the Act has not attained the age of 51 could be deemed enlisted for general service. A sub-section substituted 56 for 51 years in the case of medical practitioners.
Mr John Dillon, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, stated that Irish conscription would destroy all hope of a settlement of the Irish Home Rule question during the war. To apply conscription to this country could, Mr Dillon, declared, “open up another war-front in Ireland, and this spirit of discontent would spread to America and Australia and wherever the Irish race was scattered. For the remainder of the war they (the Government) would have to hold Ireland under strict military law”.
In the same week, the report of the Irish Convention concluded but the British parliament’s decision to link Irish conscription to a Home Rule bill was a move that alienated Irish Nationalists and Unionists alike and created a backlash. The Irish Volunteers declared they would resist conscription. Sinn Féin and the Irish Party formed committees to direct opposition. Mass Public meetings were held across the country.
On 15 April 1918, an enormous public meeting assembled at a platform under the shadow of the National Monument on the Grand Parade, Cork. The entire thoroughfare was utterly impassable from the Monument as far as Tuckey Street and all along the Grand Parade. Most noticeably, a very large contingent came from the North-West Ward headed by the priests of the parish and bearing with them a large banner inscribed: Cork’s resolve – Death before conscription. They were accompanied by the Butter Exchange Band. Other bands that took part being the Transport Workers Band, the Workman’s Fife and Drum Band, and the Piper’s Band.
Addressing the crowd, the Lord Mayor, Thomas C Butterfield, said on behalf of the committee who called the meeting that he wished the crowd present to make a solemn promise “to resist in every way that, was in its power this iniquitous net of the British Government in attempting to enforce compulsory military service on the Irish nation against the will of the Irish people”. He outlined that there would be resolutions submitted for their approval.
Bishop Cohalan was received with cheering and said he had great pleasure in proposing the resolution: “That we, the citizens of Cork, assembled in mass meeting, solemnly protest against the proposal of the British Government to impose conscription on the Irish nation in defiance of the will of the Irish people”. Continuing he highlighted the mass opposition; “No measure of the British Government had excited Ireland so much for a long time as the conscription measure. Why had that measure disturbed Ireland? Was it that young Irishmen were afraid to shoulder the gun and face the enemy? The young men of Ireland who had already joined the army had proved that, they were able to face an opposing force with bravery. The young men of Ireland had also proved that at home”. He pitched that the young men of Ireland did not see that the war was Ireland’s war, and they protested against being asked to join the British Army against their will; “A British Parliament never tried to force a measure on either England, Scotland or Wales against, the wills of the peoples of those countries; but when it came to Ireland that government proposed to force a measure on their people which made the greatest demand on the nation—to force a measure on the nation without the consent or approval of the nation”.
The Bishop was pleased to see such a large turnout in their city noting the action of Lloyd George’s Cabinet had welded together all parties of different political views in Cork and in Ireland from the North to the South – that the whole of Ireland was united in one movement of opposition to the Military Service Act.
Mr J J Walsh, of Sinn Féin, in seconding the Bishop’s resolution, said if it became necessary to fight they were prepared for that. The advice he gave to the crowd was not to do anything impulsively until they had heard from their leaders. He declared that he did not want bloodshed, but if it had to be faced, then they must be ready. They did not want war, but if the British Government forced war upon the Irish people they would not shy away from it. Conscription, he believed, would be passed and “the manhood of Ireland must be prepared and ready”. He advised householders to lay in a supply of food. The people should stand firm in this crisis; “The Government may parade their machine guns against us and may tell us they would be shot down if we did not drill for service. If they took our gruelling like-men and stood unshakable, the Government would shrink from wholesale bloodshed in face of the feeling of universal detestation”.
Kieran’s April Historical Walking Tours
Saturday 21 April, Stories from Blackrock, tour of Blackrock Village, from Blackrock Castle to Nineteenth Century Houses and Fishing; meet at Blackrock Castle, 12noon (free, 2 hours, finishes near railway line walk, Blackrock Road)
Saturday 28 April, The Victorian Quarter; tour of the area around St Patrick’s Hill – Wellington Road and MacCurtain Street; meet on the Green at Audley Place, top of St Patrick’s Hill, 12noon (free, duration: two hours, finishes by St Patrick’s Church, Lower Road)
Sunday 6 May 2018, The City Workhouse; learn about the workhouse created for 2,000 impoverished people in 1841; meet at the gates of St Finbarr’s Hospital, Douglas Road, 2.30pm (free, duration: two hours, on site tour), in association with the National Famine Commemoration, 2018, Cork.
Caption:
941a. World War I recruitment poster (source: Trinity College Dublin)
Cork’s young people are invited to participate in the tenth year of Cllr Kieran McCarthy’s Community Talent Competition. The auditions will take place on Sunday 22 April 2018 between 10am-4pm in the Lifetime Lab at the Old Cork Waterworks Lee Road, Cork City. There are no entry fees and all talents are valid for consideration. The final will be held on Sunday 6 May. There are two categories, one for primary school children and one for secondary school students. Individuals or groups can enter. Winners will be awarded a perpetual trophy and prize money of €150 (two by €150). The project is being organised and funded by Cllr Kieran McCarthy in association with Red Sandstone Varied Productions (RSVP).
Cllr McCarthy noted: “The talent competition is a community initiative. It encourages all young people to develop their talents and creative skills, to push forward with their lives and to embrace their community positively”.
Continuing Cllr McCarthy highlighted the strengths of the project; “Over the ten years of the project, many auditionees have passed through our doors – singing, acting and performing; we have tried to give young people pointers in developing their talents further; social inclusion is important to me; many are just taking the first step and many have carried on developing and enjoying their talent through local stage and performance schools; My team and I are very proud as well that several of our auditionees are now professional musicians, singers and even magicians with young careers burgeoning”. Further enquiries/ details on the Community Talent Competition can be acquired from the talent show producer (RSVP), Yvonne Coughlan at rsvpireland@gmail.com.
The Skehard Road widening and renewal project is a very important part of infrastructure for not just Blackrock and Mahon but also the south part of Cork city, according to Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy Phase 2 of the project from Parkhill Estate up to and including the Church Road Junction commenced construction in December 2017.
30% of the work has been undertaken to date: Watermain renewal works (95% complete), Stone wall construction (70% complete), Footpath and duct network works (10% complete) are ongoing.
Outstanding items of work include the following: completion of the footpath and ducting network, carriageway realignment and reconstruction work, public lighting, undergrounding ESB network cables and removal of poles, resurfacing works, lining, signage and landscaping.
Cllr McCarthy noted; “Traffic disruption during the construction phase will be limited to the greatest possible extent with traffic sensitive work planned for the summer months. Phase 2 of the project is scheduled to be substantially complete by mid December 2018. Phase 3, which is the remainder of Skehard Road between Church Road Junction and CSO Junction, is scheduled to commence construction in mid 2019. The process of acquiring land to facilitate this phase of work is underway”.
To ask the CE about progress and time scales on the current Skehard Road works? (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)
Motions:
That the City Council re-commits to the concept of having a playground on the Ursuline Convent grounds, as proposed in the original plans for the Blackrock Pier Regeneration project (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)
That the road sign Convent Avenue, an iron plaque on Cork City Gaol heritage centre’s wall, be cleaned and painted (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)
Cork’s young people are invited to participate in the tenth year of Cllr Kieran McCarthy’s Community Talent Competition. The auditions will take place on Sunday 22 April 2018 between 10am-4pm in the Lifetime Lab at the Old Cork Waterworks Lee Road, Cork City. There are no entry fees and all talents are valid for consideration. The final will be held on Sunday 6 May. There are two categories, one for primary school children and one for secondary school students. Individuals or groups can enter. Winners will be awarded a perpetual trophy and prize money of €150 (two by €150). The project is being organised and funded by Cllr Kieran McCarthy in association with Red Sandstone Varied Productions (RSVP).
Cllr McCarthy noted: “The talent competition is a community initiative. It encourages all young people to develop their talents and creative skills, to push forward with their lives and to embrace their community positively”.
Continuing Cllr McCarthy highlighted the strengths of the project; “Over the ten years of the project, many auditionees have passed through our doors – singing, acting and performing; we have tried to give young people pointers in developing their talents further; social inclusion is important to me; many are just taking the first step and many have carried on developing and enjoying their talent through local stage and performance schools; My team and I are very proud as well that several of our auditionees are now professional musicians, singers and even magicians with young careers burgeoning”. Further enquiries/ details on the Community Talent Competition can be acquired from the talent show producer (RSVP), Yvonne Coughlan at rsvpireland@gmail.com.
