At the meeting of Council of Cork Corporation on 14 May 1920, Lord Mayor Terence MacSwiney presided. On the agenda was a discussion on the beatification of Oliver Plunkett headed up by Sinn Féin councillors. A number of decisions arose out of it. One of the principal ones was the proposal by Cllr Micheal O’Cuill that the name or George’s Street be changed to that of Sráid Olibhéir Phluingcéid (Oliver Plunkett street), and this was seconded by Cllr Seán O’Leary and passed unanimously. This change in name just came within a month of the change from (Robert) King Street to (Tomás) MacCurtain Street.

Renaming streets was a very symbolic act and another mechanism to breaking bonds with the British Empire. Cork’s George’s Street was named to celebrate the ascendency of the German Royal House of Hanover to an English royal seat. Its first monarch came to the English throne in 1714. The western part of George’s Street was laid out across Cork’s unreclaimed eastern marshes from 1715 onwards and historic maps such as John Rocque’s in 1759 show that the street and its buildings in its eastern sections were still being developed. In 1760, Mayor Thomas Newenham organised a subscription fund to erect an equestrian statue of George II on a pedestal on a specially constructed arch at the western emtrance to George’s Street on the south side of the eminently arched Tuckey’s Bridge (centre of present day Grand Parade and marked by Berwick Fountain). In late September 1760, it was further decided to enlarge this bridge so that carriages could pass on each side of statue into George’s Street.

Very little survives on the present day street from the early eighteenth century but there are some very fine examples of Georgian architecture from the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. The side streets of Georges Street were named after prominent Protestant merchant figures – John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, Stephen Cook who was Sheriff of Cork in 1681, William Winthrop (Sheriff of Cork in 1741 and Mayor in 1744), Thomas Pembroke (Sheriff of Cork in 1724 and Mayor of Cork in 1733), and Samuel Maylor (Sheriff of Cork in 1766). Caroline Street is named after Queen Caroline of Brunswick, wife of George IV. Such names added to British imperial remembering structures within the city.

The name Oliver Plunkett (1625-1681) is a far cry from the connections with the House of Hanover. Temporally he did not live in the eighteenth century and is linked to martyrdom and suppression. He was an ideal candidate to commemorate during the Irish War of Independence. Oliver was born at Loughcrew, near Old Castle, Co. Meath in 1625. Up to the age of sixteen he was educated by Dr Patrick Plunkett, Abbot of St Mary’s Dublin. Subsequently he studied for the priesthood at the Irish College, Rome. He was ordained in 1654 and acted as agent in Rome for the Irish Bishops. In 1669 he was appointed to the Archbishopric of Armagh. In 1670 be returned to Ireland and established a Jesuit College in Drogheda in 1670. In 1679 he was arrested on a charge of high treason, which was supported by the evidence of witnesses who came forward to prove a Popish or Roman Catholic plot to kill England’s King Charles II. The King did not believe in the conspiracy and refused to get involved in the case of Oliver, and the law was allowed to take its course.

Brought to Westminster before an all Protestant jury, during the first trial, Oliver disputed the right of the court to try him in England. He was found to have pursued no crime but was not released. During the second trial, he drew focus on the criminal background of some of the witnesses, but to no avail. Found guilty Oliver was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn on 1 July 1681, aged 55. He was the last Catholic martyr to die in England. His story of a miscarriage of justice was not forgotten about in and was harnessed in many subsequent debates from condemning the Penal Laws to calling for Catholic Emancipation in the early nineteenth century.

Fast forward to 1920 nationally the story of the miscarriage of justice of Oliver Plunkett was connected to the war for Independence and in a Cork context to the murder of Tomás MacCurtain and his ongoing memorialisation. The Cork Examiner records that at the Cork Corporation Council meeting of 14 May 1920 this latter connection is seen through Sinn Féin’s Cllr Professor Alfred O’Rahilly, who proposed: “We, the Corporation of Cork, in Council assembled, hereby record the joy and satisfaction of the people of Ireland at the approaching Beatification of the Venerable Oliver Plunkett, the martyred Archbishop of Armagh, who 239 years ago, as the victim of a bogus plot, was seized and deported by the English Forces then in Ireland, and was legally murdered as a criminal and a traitor. We direct that this resolution be forwarded to the Cardinal Secretary of State, to his Eminence Cardinal Logue, to his Grace Dr Harty, Archbishop of Cashel, and to his Lordship Dr Cohalan, Bishop of Cork”.

Lord Mayor MacSwiney proposed that a deputation of four be appointed to go to Rome on the occasion of the Beatification. The City Solicitor pointed out that the Corporation could not pay the expense of the deputation. The Lord Mayor expressed his understanding of the financial position. However, the resolution appointing the councillor deputation was passed, and the following were appointed – Lord Mayor, Professor Stockley, Messrs Donal O’Callaghan, and Simon Daly.

Commercial party Councillor Sir John Scott expressed his gratification at the passing of the resolution, and recited instances in which he took the official part as representing the Council of Cork in other such matters.

Alderman Tadgh Barry took issue with Sir Scott and said he was sure that in the days of Oliver Plunkett somebody conniving at those who martyred him spoke in such manner as they had just listened to; “The same Government that martyred Oliver Plunkett killed Tomás MacCurtain, and they did not want to hear any more hypocritical nonsense from those who sympathised by their acts with the murderers of Tomás MacCurtain”. Sir John Scott replied that he did not sympathise with such murders, and it should not be said. He noted that he joined in the resolution as a mark of respect.

The Lord Mayor further noted that it was his understanding that to proceed to Rome they needed passports. He tried to get passports direct from the Italian Government but could not. He also understood that he would have to the nearest police barrack – and in this case that would be King Street. This was not a journey he wished to make especially after the focus placed on it during the inquest of Tomás MacCurtain.

Cllr O’Callaghan. speaking in Irish, suggested that the four members of the deputation proceed as far as they could go without passports. Alderman Edmund Coughlan seconded, and the suggestion was adopted. The passports though were not received by the proposed delegation nor did they travel some of the way to Rome.

During another discussion point the Lord Mayor said he had been specially asked by the Rector of Rome’s Irish College to go to Rome if he could possibly manage it. He suggested they should make special acknowledgment of the Pope’s declaration in connection with the beatification of Oliver Plunkett. He suggested that two or three members of the Council should draw up an address expressive of their gratitude to His Holiness, said address to him in Irish and French.

To mark the Beatification of Oliver Plunkett in Rome on 14 May 1920, Bishop Cohalan celebrated high mass at the North Cathedral where Lord Mayor MacSwiney and councillors were present. In all the churches of the city after Mass at noon the Blessed Sacrament was exposed on the High Altar.

Twenty-four hours previously, the Lord Mayor sent out a public call to citizens to illuminate their houses and display flags and bunting to commemorate the historic and holy event. Mass pageantry ensued. On 14 May 1920 rows of houses in whole streets were all lit up. Statues and pictorial representations of the Sacred Heart were erected inside the windows and surrounded by vari-coloured lights, the Papal colours – gold and white – predominated. The Papal Flag was displayed from very many homes. The Sinn Féin flag flew over public buildings, such as the City Hall, the Markets, and was also hoisted over the Courthouse in Washington Street. The latter flag was put up in the morning by some young men with the aid of the fire escape outside the Court House. A demonstration was made in the evening by the members of the Irish Trades and General Workers Union whose hall at Camden Quay was beautifully decorated. Accompanied by the Connolly Memorial Fife and Drum Band, the Union members of well over one thousand left the hall and proceeded to Blackpool Bridge. Here a halt was made to pay tribute to the memory of the late Lord Mayor, Alderman Tomás MacCurtain. The band played outside his residence for some time.

 The processionists then went to the Cathedral, outside which the band played, and having paid a similar visit to the Church of the Franciscans. Liberty Street, they marched onto the National Monument on the Grand Parade. Here Rev Fr Mathew OFM, said the rosary in Irish with the crowd kneeling and giving responses to the Rosary. The band and members then went on to the Holy Trinity Church, and having halted outside it and played, a return was made to the hall, Camden Quay.

At Cork City Hall the facade over the main entrance was lined with electric bulbs, and in the centre was placed a shamrock, the bulbs being coloured gold and white. At some points of the city tar barrels were set ablaze. The illuminations continued to midnight. All of this happened as Black and Tans loomed more and more in making their presence felt.

Kieran’s new book Witness to Murder, The Inquest of Tomás MacCurtain is now available to purchase online at www.irishexaminer.ie (co-authored with John O’Mahony 2020 and published by the Irish Examiner).

Dr Kieran McCarthy is a Geographer, Cork local historian and an Independent member of Cork City Council. His historical work can be viewed at www.corkheritage.ie.

Cllr Kieran McCarthy’s Online Debate Speech, European Committee of the Regions

Dear President Tzitzikostas, Dear Commissioner, Dear Colleagues.

We have heard much this morning of the need to bring EU citizens together more – We have heard much this morning on the benefits of concepts of solidarity and democracy.

It is highly important that words are turned into practical action.

There is an old saying – that there are three types of people in our regions – those people who make it happen, those people who watch it happen and those people who ask what happened.

We all need to need to be on the side of making it happen.

We need to plan to harness the wisdom of our citizens for a better Europe.

We need to keep evolving EU action plans to give regions and cities the resources to be able to act at a level closest to the citizens.

For my part today I have three short messages.

Citizen Dialogues

Firstly, the CoR has been active in citizen dialogues the last few years with hundreds of dialogues taken place across the EU. Such work as a CoR member I am proud of. We have developed methodologies that work and have inspired others desiring to do similar.

Our reports on such work and energy should not gather dust on a shelf – no mind the recent collaborative work pursued on the Cohesion Alliance, the European Social Pillars, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the COR’s exchange platform on the Local and Regional Authority Covid Response.

Permanent Dialogue:

My second message concerns the European Alliance group of which I am the president and its preparing of an opinion on establishing a permanent dialogue with citizens.

It is a member from Galway Cllr Declan McDonnell who is leading for the European Committee of the Regions on this subject and the opinion of the final opinion is now planned for October. Declan is in hospital at present and I wish him well.

In an Irish context we have a lot we can share with Europe from the experience of the Citizens Assembly in Ireland which influenced the upstreaming of a number of changes in the Irish constitution. 

Bringing 100 citizens representing different age groups, working environments, different backgrounds all contributing to the greater good of improving the constitution made by the people and for the people. 

It cannot be a top down process we need to bring on board the grassroots representative bodies.  What is also significant is Dr Catherine Day, former Secretary General of the European Commission is the chair of the Irish Citizens Assembly.

We need to ensure that local and regional government are pivotal to opening the dialogue with the citizens, but we also need to bring on board.

• Community groups
• Educational Bodies
• Culture bodies
• Sporting bodies

·    

         In the innovation language of the EU we hear much about the importance of the quadruple helix and you can see clearly the positive effects of people working together under that banner. So why not have a stronger helix when it comes to working with citizens.

On the Ground Projects

My third and last message concerns the point there are also many EU projects, which continue to evolve across the EU’s cities and diverse regions.

Projects such as URBACT, Interreg, H2020, EU Urban Agenda, Erasmus Plus, European Cross border, EIB collaboration projects, Science Meets Regions, Digital Cities etc are networks who are all doing great work. 

 Across the EU we have European Capital programmes such as Culture, Innovation, Green, Volunteering, Sport and youth to name just a few. We are debating the SDGs There is much happening that sometimes are not celebrated enough and not scaled up.

To conclude the latter three messages – EU Citizen dialogues, Citizen assembly concepts and harnessing existing EU projects on the ground – are just three best practice examples that can inform the future of Europe debate.

We need to build relationships with citizens not battleships.

Symmetries not complexities.

Capacity building not hopeful yearning.

And participation not dilapidation.

We need effective engagement plans. The CoR is ready but we cannot do this alone.

Thank you.

Cllr Kieran McCarthy

Europe Day, 9 May, is a chance to reflect on the many social and economic challenges of our time. Regions and cities across the EU remain at the frontline of responding to such challenges – acting upon them, finding resolutions, whilst all the time moving forward in an ambitious and sustainable way. The recent Coronavirus pandemic has also shown once again how important local and regional authorities are to the lives of EU citizens. In my membership of the European Committee of the Regions, which is an assembly of Regional Presidents, Mayors and Councillors I have seen first-hand the importance of sharing knowledge and experience to help each other, create more sustainable cities, towns and regions and to feed into present and EU future policy areas. 

EU Funding For Cork City:

Cork has received many chunks of EU Funds over the past decades. For the 2014-2020 period EU support has been provided to Cork City Council through the various European Structural & Investment Funds (ESIF). These were matched by local and national resources. For example, most recently EU structural funding was witnessed in the construction of Mary Elmes Bridge (€1.5 million) and the ongoing development of Marina Park in South Docklands (€3.5 million).

A significant portion of the EU Structural Funds has been targeted at reducing the carbon footprint of Cork City Council’s social housing stock with separate measures targeting the stock of older houses and of apartments. The interventions being carried out to social housing units include attic and wall insulation works; the upgrading of windows and external doors; and the fitting of high-efficiency condensing boilers or heat pumps. These must achieve an upgrade of at least one level in the energy rating of each unit targeted.

The structural funds in Ireland have also created Entrepreneurship in Micro-Enterprise scheme. This basically allows the city’s Local Enterprise Office (LEO) in Cork to invest to support start-ups, business expansion and higher innovation levels in the manufacturing and traded services.

The European Social Fund (ESF) tackles poverty and social exclusion through targeted engagement and investment in the form of community capacity development and individual life-long learning and labour market supports. This is being delivered by Cork City Partnership and managed by the Local Community Development Committee (LCDC).

Collaboration with other EU Cities & Regions:

            As of early 2020, Cork City Council has, or has only recently concluded, an involvement in 29 EU regional collaboration projects. These are the result of joint applications put together by organisations from across the continent, including like-minded cities in similar contexts. They are part of competitive bidding processes seeking approval by the European Commission. The activity ranges across the entire Council, covering issues of community, social inclusion and learning; culture, heritage and tourism, climate and energy; enterprise and innovation, planning and development, digital transformation; and emergency services.

While some of the engagement is restricted to an advisory capacity, nineteen of these undertakings see Cork City Council involved as full partners. Eighteen are enabled by the award of direct funding from Brussels for the delivery of specific activities on the ground. Over the last five years, these have garnered a combined €2.678 million in additional revenue for Cork City Council. This has made possible the resourcing of staff as project managers. So, studies and research can be conducted, and planning activity drawn up. Finance delivers pilot actions and small-scale investment on the ground that otherwise would not have taken place.

 The projects are providing opportunities to significantly broaden our horizons by means of in-depth exchange and collaboration on specific issues. Consequently, Cork City Council is able to contribute to the pooling of knowledge and sharing of experience as to how common challenges are being addressed in different places. The Council can then investigate and demonstrate whether alternative perspectives and approaches can be adapted and transferred to have a positive impact in Cork.

EU Affairs Officer:

            In 2019, CCC appointed a full-time EU Affairs Coordinator, Ronan Gingles, to facilitate and fully inform access to quality engagement in EU opportunities and initiatives. The role has a whole-of-organisation remit to support European activity that clearly contributes to and informs Cork City Council’s objectives and the development of Cork as an inclusive, future-focussed, sustainable, and competitive European city of scale.

Memberships and Networking

Cork City Council also currently maintains memberships of the following European networks as a means to enhance engagement in EU activity, created interaction with peers, access to knowledge and tools, including best practice; and identified opportunities including project bids.

The Atlantic Arc Cities group comprises 20 cities along or close to the Atlantic seaboard. They work together to explore sustainable urban development through green, attractive and solidarity-based cities.

ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability is aninfluential network has a global as well as a European focus. It ranges across sixteen topics through which it seeks to influence sustainability policy and drive local low emission, nature-based, equitable, resilient and circular development action for positive change on the ground.

Startup Europe Regions Networkis dedicated to reinforcing the links between the local and regional authorities, development agencies, universities and associations which support and scale up early-stage businesses across Europe to promote a culture of start-up friendly regions.

POLIS(sustainable and innovative mobility) is a network, which allows cities and regions to collaborate on the development of innovative policies and technologies to improve local transport, including through integrated approaches that address the economic, social and environmental dimensions.

The European Cultural Tourism Networkspecialises in the development and promotion of sustainable cultural tourism by bringing together destinations, authorities.

Prevailing Together:

Finally, we should not forget who we are, yes we are Corkonians but being members of a European Union, brings huge benefits to all of us. That being said we all have our different cultures, traditions and languages.  The EU need to works for and on behalf of its citizens, respecting our diverse regions and demonstrating that we can really be united in diversity.

Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has recently been reappointed by National Government to serve on the Irish delegation to the EU Committee of the Region in Brussels (CoR) for 2020-2024. The 329-strong body of elected representatives from across Europe’s cities and regions provides the formal mechanism for sub-national input into the EU policy process. Kieran is currently the President of the European Alliance Grouping in the CoR, web.cor.europa.eu.