North Monastery Proposal, Cork City Council Meeting, 12 April 2010

Re: the creation of a geological museum

Lord Mayor, I welcome any proposal that encourages education and tourism in the city. The connection with the North Mon is very apt in a year when we have a commemorative committee looking a celebrating the life of Tomas McCurtain, a past pupil of the North Mon

However, the proposal in the appendix of the report given by UCC is abit trína chéile. It does not focus on any one topic and is very similar to the successful operation in Blackrock Castle. The topics promoted by UCC are similar to those in Blackrock Castle in terms of Geology in education.

I have nothing against geology being aware that there is a crater on the moon named after a Cork woman and mid nineteenth century astronomer Agnes Clerke and being aware that the Cork flag promotes our white limestone and red sandstone.

I would like to see other aspects of the history of scientific study promoted in the city especially being aware that two great scientists emerged from the North Mon in the late nineteenth century.

In 1857 Br. James Dominic Burke arrived at the North Monastery and under his guidance the students began the study of natural philosophy (science). Br. Burke, widely acknowledged as the father of vocational education in Ireland, made the ‘Mon’ a centre of excellence in scientific and technical education upon which many other schools would later be modelled. Br. Burke closely followed the work of Thomas Edison in New Jersey in the 1870s.

By 1879, he had produced a new concept: a high resistance lamp in a very high vacuum, which would burn for hundreds of hours. Edison concentrated on commercial application, and was able to sell the concept to homes and businesses by mass-producing relatively long-lasting light bulbs and creating a complete system for the generation and distribution of electricity.

With those developments in mind, Br Burke brought the idea of the electric light bulb into the contemporary City Council and put on a display at the 1883 Cork Industrial Exhibition. The concept adopted by our predecessors led to the formation of the Cork Electric Tramway Company,  now the location of the National Sculpture Factory.

The second important individual who emerged as an important figure in international science was  Br. John P. Holland  studied in the ‘Mon’ under the guidance of Br. Burke. He (inventor of the submarine)

The Holland class were the first submarines built for the Royal Navy. The Hollands were built under licence from the Holland Torpedo Boat Company/Electric Boat Company during the year 1901 to 1903.

I wish for that kind of science connected with ideas of modernity to be explored. I wish to propose that the City Council investigate the addition of the work of the great men Dominic Burke and John P. Holland to be added and celebrated in any museum in the North Mon.