Kieran’s New Book, Cork Harbour Through Time, November, 2014)

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

Cork Harbour Through Time By Kieran McCarthy and Dan Breen

 

   How do you capture a harbour in all its beauty? Being the second largest natural harbour in the world brings a focus and energy that Cork Harbour has always been open to. The ebb and flow of the tide through the ages has carved a unique landscape of cliffs, sand and gravel beaches that expose an underlining geology of limestone and sandstone. Invigorating this landscape are multiple monuments from different ages, many of which the postcards in Kieran McCarthy and Dan Breen seek to capture.

  Colourful villages provide different textures and cultural landscapes in a sort of cul-de-sac environment, with roads ending at harbours and car parks near coastal cliff faces and quaysides. The villages are scattered around the edges of the harbour, each with their own unique history, all connecting in someway to the greatness of this harbour. Walking along several junctures of fields, one can get the feeling you are at the ‘edge of memory’. There are the ruins of old structures that the tide erodes away. One gets the sense that a memory is about to get swept away by the sea, or that by walking in the footsteps trodden by photographers 100 years ago, one could get carried away by their curiosity. This new book tracks the space and historical context of 100 postcards in Cork Harbour, many of which were taken c. 1900–20.

Cork Harbour Through Time can be bought in many Cork bookshops.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ireland-Europe-Countries-Regions-Books/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D279716&field-keywords=cork+harbour+through+time&rh=n%3A279716%2Ck%3Acork+harbour+through+time&ajr=1

Kieran’s New Book, Cork Harbour Through Time, 20 November 2014

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

Cork Harbour Through Time By Kieran McCarthy and Dan Breen

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town,

Cork Independent, 20 November 2014

Kieran’s New Book – Cork Harbour Through Time

 

     How do you capture a harbour in all its beauty? Being the second largest natural harbour in the world brings a focus and energy that Cork Harbour has always been open to. The ebb and flow of the tide through the ages has carved a unique landscape of cliffs, sand and gravel beaches that expose an underlining geology of limestone and sandstone. Invigorating this landscape are multiple monuments from different ages, many of which the postcards in my new book with Dan Breen seek to capture.

     Colourful villages provide different textures and cultural landscapes in a sort of cul-de-sac environment, with roads ending at harbours and car parks near coastal cliff faces and quaysides. The villages are scattered around the edges of the harbour, each with their own unique history, all connecting in someway to the greatness of this harbour. Walking along several junctures of fields, one can get the feeling you are at the ‘edge of memory’. There are the ruins of old structures that the tide erodes away. One gets the sense that a memory is about to get swept away by the sea, or that by walking in the footsteps trodden by photographers 100 years ago, one could get carried away by their curiosity. This new book tracks the space and historical context of 100 postcards in Cork Harbour, many of which were taken c. 1900–20.

     Many of the sites have been written extensively on over centuries, while others await proper exploration and critique. Chapter 1 begins in the city and takes the reader from Ireland’s southern capital of Cork City eastwards into the River Lee’s tidal estuary. This city is built on a shifting landscape of sand, gravel, rushes and reeds, a wetland knitted together to form a working port through the ages. In Cork City Through Time (2012), we showcased the old postcards of Cork City. Moving eastwards past the port, the river begins to spread in width, creating vast scenic vistas along areas like the marina, extending to the late seventeenth-century structure of Blackrock Castle and beyond, to the reed beds of Lough Mahon and Douglas Estuary. All are hidden places of beauty, much of which may be explored by the amenity walk along the old Blackrock & Passage Railway Line. When the line opened in 1850, it hosted 200,000 people in the first six months. In 1903, this line was later extended to Crosshaven. The resonances of such a venture are echoed along the walkway as old platforms, ivy clad stone-arch bridges provide legacies to admire. Passage, the first terminus for the railway, was once a shipbuilding centre of the south of Ireland. Nowadays, old quaysides and eerie, abandoned warehouses haunt the area. One can almost hear the hammers and whispers of workers’ repairing and patching together ocean-going ships. Further along the river, Monkstown provides insight into the past with its colourful Victorian mansions.

     The same can be said about the scenic wooded village of Glanmire, the iconic Father Mathew Tower and Fota House. All exist as rich storehouses of memory and are awe-inspiring to walk around at any time of the year. Chapter 2 takes the reader on a journey through some of the landscapes on Great Island, and naturally Cobh is a central focus. Drawn through several centuries and photographed since the invention of the camera, it is difficult not to be drawn to the town’s rich architectural steeple and exterior artwork on the late nineteenth-century construct of St Colman’s Cathedral. Cobh has stunning scenic quay vistas and a colourful selection of buildings. The town is also known for its stories of emigration and the legendary Titanic. One can feel its journey across the ocean and the role the town played in its part in the North Atlantic’s human history.

    The sites and spaces seen from Cobh’s specifically constructed building parapets are explored in Chapter 3. The harbour islands such as Spike Island and Haulbowline have histories dating back over 400 years. They were first fortified by star-shaped forts and secured for the expanding British Empire. Two more forts exist near the entrance to the Harbour, Camden Fort Meagher and Fort Davis. Originally built in the 1780s, one can explore the town’s military history and connections to a far-flung British empire through the harbour’s role in securing its might and power. However, one is humbled by stories of the Irish War of Independence and how these forts in time were secured by the Irish Government as Ireland’s last lines of defence. Today, these represent large community-based tourism projects.

    Chapter 4 explores the eastern shores of Cork Harbour. Here lies the great market town of Midleton, the old large malthouses of Ballincurra, the ancient tower at Cloyne, the quaint spaces within villages at Rostellan and Whitegate, and the ruins of old houses. Connect these with industrial projects such as Whitegate Oil Refinery, and family holiday centres such as Trabolgan, and all reveal rich stories. However, standing overlooking all within the harbour is the great lighthouse at Roches Point, warning ships of imposing rocks and providing a grand entrance gateway to the harbour. On a clear day, the views show a canvass of stories and memories.

Caption:

769a. Cork Harbour Through Time by Kieran McCarthy & Dan Breeen (published by Amberley Press, November 2014)

 

Kieran’s Comments, Cork City Council Budget Meeting

Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

Cork City Council Budget Meeting,

17 November 2014, Cllr Kieran McCarthy

The Garden of the Council

 Lord Mayor,

I was listening to an old interview with President Erskine Childers this morning on RTE player and he referred to politics as a garden where different parts of it to be tended to in order to have an overall healthy picture or nation.

It is fair to say that this Council’s garden six years/ seven years ago was in great nick, well attended to, a strong stage presence as such, there were regular barbeques, almost Greekesque in their view as we look back now with rose tinted glasses, the fine wine flowed in a sense, and the sun seemed to shine more on the finances back then. There were great hazy days in the sun.

But my how the financial plaque has swept through this Council’s garden. Our directorate crops have been eaten away at, leaving their roots in shambles, and some will never return in the short term. Some parts of our garden are bordering on barren and many of our orchards have been slogged back to their branches. We lost 367 staff over the last number of years and only gained 11. One gets the impression we are just hanging in there like a tree with fruit that a north Dublin wind wants to take more from.

Since 2009 central government have constantly eaten away at our municipal programmes. We are windswept but interestingly still standing, just almost, and resilient.

The digging into our crop reserves is not positive. Digging into the rainy day fund will put this city under further pressure.

I see in the third paragraph of the draft report this evening (p3) the terms “ we are bringing a financial balance” which Tim Healy and his team painstakingly put together every year. We’re lucky to have the knowledge that Tim has of the broad spectrum of our accounts and I welcome the broad allocation of funds across the directorates from Housing, roads, environment to arts, culture and heritage.

But there isn’t a balance in terms of the limits that are on this city’s development arising out of these continuous series of status quo’s budgets. The existence of strict budgetary controls is continuing to affect services. The retention of a status quo is not good for a city and region such as Cork

One of the key highlights of this year’s budget is apparent on p.3; ward funds are being retained. That’s what we have been reduced to on the first page of our budget document. There is nothing wrong with having ward funds but that is the discretionary fund that we as councillors have in 2015.

Frameworks that we have to provide funding for this city are inadequate; on one scale they are pushing those to the limits, to larger financial struggles, whether it be ratepayers or those that pay the local property tax.

The frightening aspect is with both, LPG and Rates, our largest scale pots of incomes, the money raised is not enough to really make a go in developing the policies of our various directorates. Our service provision across all directorates are set at a minimum.

Indeed, without real reform of Local Government people are essentially paying more and getting less. That’s the reality of the overall picture of our garden. The government talk about their “putting people first” programme but when all is said they are “putting people paying first”.

This Council going forward is now dependent on levies on development, we’re dependent on some kind of boom to top up our funds. We need to sit down and have a serious chat to central government.

The national and wider frameworks of how we fund this Council need to be seriously addressed and not put on the long finger as what we are seeing.

I propose that in the new year a delegation from this Council does meet the Minister and that our financial plagued garden is explained to him and that a more sustainable approach can be found.

Thanks Lord Mayor

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 13 November 2014

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

768a. Memories and histories, Oliver Plunkett Street

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 13 November 2014

Memories of Oliver Plunkett Street

 

     It is true to say that Cork City and County is lucky with the calibre of dedicated Council library staff, who bring their enthusiasm and knowledge to bear on their collections. Since 1892, Cork City Libraries has provided a service to the citizens of Cork. Part of that valuable service has been a local history element for the people of Cork and beyond, as well as for researchers, students of all ages, and writers.

    For nearly forty years, the enormous collections of local history materials that Cork City proudly possesses was developed and minded by recently retired librarian Kieran Burke, who for all intensive purposes, was their guardian. Up to a decade ago, the city’s library service was available only to people calling in person to the library premises. However, since 2004, online library services are available through two websites: (i) the general library website at CorkCityLibraries.ie (where, for example, you can search the book catalogue or request and renew borrowed items), and (ii) the popular Cork Past and Present website.  

      For over a century, if an enquirer wanted to check a historical map of Cork, or if they wanted to check an old street directory showing who lived in what street or what business was carried on there, they would have had to call to the library premises — and only during opening hours. Now since 2004, with the online service of the Cork Past and Present website, people can browse the local history treasures of the Library from the comfort of their homes, from their place of work or recreation, or while travelling, or even when out of the country.

    City Librarian Liam Ronayne has driven the expansion of online library services since his appointment as City Librarian in 2004. He established a special eLibrary Services department to develop online library resources. Arising from these developments more material is digitized every year and added to the Library webpages, providing 24/7 access to anyone requiring it. For nine months up to last summer, three new sections to its websites were developed. The first section deals with two decades of theatre in Cork city from 1972 to 1991 showing 4,000 high-quality photographs of theatre productions in Cork. Another new web section presents brief accounts of the Shandon area with some images. The third addition contributes to understanding the stronger identity, which pervades in Oliver Plunkett Street, a vital and busy spine running through our city centre. As well as having intrinsic interest, these new web pages support the efforts of the businesses in our city streets to focus greater attention on the historic and overall attractions of the city centre. With so much nostalgia in the City Centre, it offers a rich cultural experience hard to beat.

     The new web pages on Oliver Plunkett Street explore the historical development of the street from its beginnings in the early eighteenth century – the challenges posed by building on a marshland, a number of buildings of significance on the street, and also charts the history of some of the long-standing retailers synonymous with Oliver Plunkett Street. Some of the intriguing images show an auction of greyhounds in the former Conway’s Yard, now part of Casey’s furniture store and car park. Other pages remind one that the lovely limestone-clad building behind the EuroGiant shop was once a nineteenth century Congregational Chapel, or that today’s Saville menswear shop was a cinema (the Imperial Cinema) from 1913 until the 1950s. The Karizma Turkish barber shop on the corner of Oliver Plunkett Street and Princes Street was the site of the city’s first purpose-built theatre which opened in 1732 and operated out of there until the Theatre Royal moved in 1760 to where the GPO is today, where the theatre house survived until the postal authorities purchased the premises in 1875.

   Notable for its striking Tudor-revival facades and indoor architecture one can read about the history of Winthrop Arcade. It was officially opened by Lord Mayor Seán French on 1 May 1926. The arcade was one of the first shopping malls opened in Ireland and survives today in its original design and purpose. The man responsible for establishing the arcade was Cork businessman Patrick Crowley. Guy’s business directory for 1913 records that he operated a public house named ‘The Arch’, at 7 Winthrop Street. His business and properties on the site of the future arcade were destroyed by rampaging British forces during the Burning of Cork in December 1920. He invested the financial compensation he received following the event, along with funds of his own, to create the Winthrop Arcade.

    Other retailers, including, Liam Ruiséal Teoranta, Cronin’s Menswear, Casey’s Furniture, Keane’s Jewellers, M J Galligan Furnishing Fabrics, the Uneeda bookshop, and Minihan’s Chemists. There is even a section about Oliver Plunkett Street as an area prone to flooding and its links to the development of the swampland. Cork City Libraries is to be commended for its ongoing efforts to add to the cultural richness of Cork city and for providing greater access both through its seven premises throughout the city and through its webpages, such as this new section on Oliver Plunkett Street, which everyone should browse.

My thanks to John Mullins, Cork City Library and Lord Mayor Cllr Mary Shields for their help with the above piece.

 

Caption:

 

768a. Memories and histories, Oliver Plunkett Street, Present Day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Question to the City Manager/ CE and Motions, Cork City Council Meeting, 10 November 2014

Arts, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

Question to the City Manager/ CE

 To ask the CE about the potential of buying the ‘Camden Palace Hotel’, formerly on Camden Quay, to develop as an arts building, continuing what is there. I understand that the ‘hotel’ is being sold by NAMA shortly (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

 

Motions:

That Alderwood Estate, on South Douglas Road be added to the patch resurfacing roads programme (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

That an elaborate skate board park be developed in Tramore Valley Park (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 6 November 2014

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

767a. Crawford Municipal Technical Institute, Cork

 

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, 

Cork Independent, 6 November 2014

“Technical Memories (Part 93 of 93) – For the Public Good”

 

       In reaching the end of the series on the Crawford Municipal Technical Institute, there are always the plaguing questions of what other sub topics on the Tech that could have been written about. Discontinuing at the development of the new Art College premises and the RTC seems a logical stopping point. More present day local histories require a delicate balancing act between memory, fact and history. Certainly, CIT’s forty year heritage deserves a book on its own charting its rise and significance for this country, socially and economically.

       The story of the Tech is a layered and complex story. To explore these complexities in a methodology sense, I have used mostly Institute archival documents, VEC minute books, and newspapers to tell the great tale of the Crawford Tech. I have used some interviews to expand the narrative. Certainly there is a need to do a proper set of interviews with past pupils and former lecturers on the importance of vocational education in this region.

      Since January 2012 one of the aims of this section of the Our City, Our Town series was to showcase the development of our city as a strong heartland of education and science. The City is lucky that we have archives where one can read about the viewpoints of the leaders of vocational education throughout several decades and how such spaces like the Tech encompass those ideals. Whereas the Tech was a very real space, it also existed as a strong symbol of where Cork and Ireland needed to go in terms of educational progress. Against the backdrop of political campaigns for Home Rule, many demands for investment into Ireland, housing, and attempts to stop large scale emigration, the Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) Act in 1899 recognised the need for an Irish framework for technical education in an attempt to halt industrial and manufacturing decline. In many parts of the country, young people needed to be mentally challenged, and the schools needed to be become more efficient. There was an almost complete dearth of higher education suited to the latter needs. Concepts of progress in intellectualism and education and energy in idealism swept across the country through the technical institutes. These institutes and their aspirations were the foundations of the country’s regional colleges and universities.

     Concepts of progress at the Crawford Tech followed the economic needs of the country. The hands on approaches in 1912 in subjects such as experimental science, drawing, and manual work, and domestic economy were swept away by the need for understanding the use of large scale mechanised machinery. As outlined throughout this column series, the Tech impressively showed leadership in all its actions, programmes, ongoing discussions and ideas. The technical movement was also open to every Irish man and woman; it did not engage in political or religious difference. Improvement and development became hallmark words when it came to progress. Practical experience and wide knowledge were freely given for the public good. The Crawford Tech’s first principal John H Grindley in one of his first reports wrote about the concept of the public good; “the work of the institute cannot fail to have far reaching affects on the intellectual well being of the workers, in training the intelligence of the leaders of industry”.

     Fast forward in time and one gets the rich and layered leadership stories of industry in the Cork City and harbour region in the 1950s and the creation of a number of large industrial projects – two were developed by the ESB – the Lee hydroelectric scheme and the Marina plant; then there was Whitegate Oil Refinery, Verome Dockyard, Goulding’s Fertilisers and Irish Steel Ltd on Haulbowline. These were followed by the construction of Cork Airport, and developments at Fords and Dunlops at the Marina, Cork City. All of these require further research in terms of their significance in framing the development of Ireland’s industrial culture.

      So many people have passed the doors of the Crawford Tech building over the years. It is a space of inspiration. How many people have been pushed forward and inspired there is incalculable. Its current use as the City’s art college allows visitors at the end of year art exhibitions to wander the old rooms of the Tech. The artworks place their own meaning on the building’s web of corridors and multiple rooms. But beyond that you will see the beauty of Arthur Hill’s red brick structure. Sometimes we as citizens don’t look up enough to appreciate the beautiful and multi-layered architectural styles we have. Arthur Hill (1846-1921) was a reputable architect in his day and has left Cork city with many beautiful architectural set pieces, all of which are worth of multiple studies in themselves. With such a depth of architectural splendour and human histories, the Crawford Tech rightly deserves to be written about and showcased. If you’ve missed any of this series or previous years, log onto my website www.corkheritage.ie in the index section. The end of this series also marks the fifteenth year mark of this column, which I have always attempted to celebrate the stories and memories, which this city and region has to offer. Where to explore next is the big question!

Caption:

767a. Crawford Municipal Technical Institute, Cork, c.1912, now the Crawford College of Art (source: Cork City Library)

 

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 30 October 2014

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

766a. Sunset at Cork Docks, October 2014

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, 

Cork Independent, 30 October 2014

“Technical Memories (Part 92) – Wisdom and a Real Spirit”

 

 Cork’s Regional Technical College, the biggest in the country, representing a public investment of nearly £3 ½ million, was officially opened today by An Taoiseach, Mr Lynch three years after parts of the college began to be used. Since its unofficial opening the number of day students had risen to 3,000 with almost 1,000 evening class students and a teaching staff numbering almost 200 (Evening Echo, 31 December 1977, p.1).

   With the wheels of education moving, and the Cork School of Art in the process of relocating to the Crawford Tech, attention turned to having an official opening of the Cork Regional Technical College. On 30 December 1977 three years on since its first enrolments, Cork born Taoiseach Jack Lynch received an enthusiastic reception on arrival at the college. The Irish Press, Cork Examiner and Evening Echo all record a large attendance. The college was blessed by the Bishop of Cork and Ross, Cornelius Lucey. A plaque made by Cork sculptor Ken Thompson commemorating the opening was unveiled by the Taoiseach after the tape-cutting ceremony. Among the large attendance were the Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Gerald Goldberg and the principal Mr J P Roche. At a luncheon in Blackrock Castle later many tributes were paid to the retiring CEO Patrick Parfrey and among the presentations made to him was an illuminated address by Cork graphic artist Tadhg Lehane and his portrait painted by Frank Sanquest.

   Lynch in his speech at the RTC noted that the public expenditure of nearly £3 ½ million on the college was a confident investment in the future which it had to serve and to attempt to reshape. Its success would depend on “wisdom, teamwork and real spirit of teaching and leadership”. Without that vision and leadership, he pointed out, the college would not have come into existence at all. There had been the sterling work of the City of Cork VEC and its sub committee and the Board of Management. The Taoiseach paid a special tribute to the City VEC Chief Executive Patrick Parfrey who retired on the day of the opening; “His period in that post would be remembered for the earnestness, thoroughness and perseverance of his work, for the many innovations which he had inspired in a period of rapid change and for the buildings and plans which would survive as monuments to his endeavours”.

   The RTC brought technical education together into one complex. The Taoiseach made reference to the history of the Crawford Municipal Technical Institute of Crawford Tech. A number of extensions were made to the building over the years to accommodate extra classes. As far back as 1963 saturation point had been reached and in that year all junior day classes were transferred to premises in Sawmill Street and Parnell Place. In addition all apprentice classes in building and furniture trades moved to the Sawmill Street complex. Other premises acquired were SS Peter and Paul’s Primary Schools, for electrical trades; the Deanery in Dean Street, for mechanical engineering and civil; and in 1972 some rooms were hired from the community centre at Greenmount for the use of mechanical block release classes.

   Mr Lynch continued by saying there would be great pressure to ensure the relevance of what the college provided for the changing needs of society and of the region. This demanded close links with industry, research, business, development agencies and, of course, with other educational institutions. Courses tailored to industrial needs were increasingly being structured by the college. Courses were put on for Chemiotic Brinny, An Foras Forbartha, the Institute of Public Administration and the accounting profession. In the late 1970s, the college undertook courses in food hygiene for the bacon industry and developed a joint course with Marathon Petroleum for the training of its personnel on the Kinsale Head production platform.

    In a wider context, the region was in a good position, economically and socially. Cork Corporation’s Development Plan Review for 1977 reveals a city with a varied industry. It had well developed commercial centre generating almost a quarter of all Munster retails sales and a concentration of important education and professional services. The Port of Cork was the major distribution centre for the south of Ireland. In 1971 Cork Port handled an estimated 40 per cent of the total port traffic of the whole State. Developments of the Corporation’s housing holdings at Hollyhill, Bishopstown and Mahon were being pressed ahead. These developments were to provide industrial sites, ancillary social facilities such as schools and shopping and residential areas with a combined population when complete of about 12,000. The City and County Authorities, CIE, the Cork Harbour Commissioners and other development agencies had come together under the aegis of the Regional Development Organisation to undertake a Land Use Transportation Study of the Greater Cork Area.

     In an Irish context, on 1 January 1978 Ireland advanced its membership of the EEC a day later after RTC’s opening. The country’s cheaper food prices were to be finally brought into line with those in the original six community countries. The New Year marked the end of a five year transitional period and the beginning of a new era in Ireland’s international relations and markets.

To be continued…

Caption:

766a. Sunset at Cork Docks, October 2014 (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 23 October 2014

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

765a. Canova casts at Crawford Municipal Art Gallery

 

 

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 23 October 2014

“Technical Memories (Part 91) – Premises for a College of Art”

 

    With a new RTC up and running in Cork from October 1974, attention soon turned to the future of the Crawford Municipal Technical Institute. Education leaders in Cork turned their focus to converting the premises into an art college whilst creating more gallery space and a larger civil art centre at the Crawford Art Gallery.

     In the early 1970s, the Cork Vocational Educational Committee (VEC) made a policy decision, which included the conversion of the Crawford Tech into the Cork School of Art. The Irish Press on 21 February 1977 (p.6) outlines that a meeting was held of representatives comprising concerned groups and people in the School of Art. Some criticism of the proposed transfer was made but a show of hands displayed firm support for the move. The VEC CEO Patrick Parfrey referred to a special committee on art accommodation in Cork and stressed that the existing accommodation for the visual arts was grossly inadequate both for students and the public. They had found themselves unable to exhibit or even store their own paintings or to accept works on loan from other galleries; “as the second city in the State to ask for the money for an extension to our gallery, I say unblushingly that the state should have no hesitation in providing it…the galleries we have were built through the generosity of the Crawford Family nearly a century ago and they have served us all during this time”.

    Mr Parfrey detailed that the School of Art had 173 full time art students and eleven courses. Most of those who had qualified in previous years were able to get teaching jobs and he foresaw more vacancies for future teachers. Stressing the role of the school in Cork’s cultural life, he added; “we were the first gallery to run art classes for children and have been running them for over 135 years. We were also the first gallery to have lunchtime recitals”. He explained that the planned conversion into an art centre would include more “hanging and storage facilities, library space and a restaurant”. In addition there would be enough space on a site within the gallery grounds to build proper headquarters for the National Ballet Company, which was looking for accommodation; “With the Opera House adjoining us on one side and with the ballet headquarters on the other, we would be in fact and in name a real art centre – though of course, the ballet company would have to provide its own funds for its building”. Other speakers including members of the teaching staff of the school and Miss Joan Denise Moriarty supported the arts centre project. The ballet centre eventually materialised though at the Firkin Crane in Shandon.

     The move of the School of Art was critiqued though. Artist Gladys Leach reminded the meeting that the Cork School of Art was built specifically for art students and it was important to remember its past functions; “ it has magnificent rooms with northern lighting and there is an atmosphere of art her which you will not get at a technical school. It would be a crying shame if these rooms are used for other purposes other than their original purposes. There is no comparison here with conditions in the Dublin College of Art – it was only a wing of Leinster House but this is a building specially designed as an art school and gallery”. Mr Parfrey noted the concerns of Ms Leach whilst highlighting that the decision was made by the VEC and the project and the transfer were going to happen. A member of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society spoke of his concern about the changes which might take place in the physical appearance of the present school; “It is a venerable building and there are few of its kind in Ireland. I hope this will be borne in mind when any conversions are being made. We have too many bad examples around us of conversions”. Following a proposal to form a steering committee to implement the decision on the art centre and to raise funds for the alteration, the following with two members of the VEC were appointed; Art critic Hilary Pyle, architects Jim Barry and Frank Murphy, Tony Thornton, President of the Cork Chamber of Commerce and Mrs Dennis Murphy.

    Fast forward to February 1980 and the Irish Press also detailed the actual move (14 February, p.9). About £240,000 had been spent on conversion and furnishings of the new schools in the 1912 building. The Cork School of Art had always elicited respect through the quality of its work and teaching, particularly in the realm of sculpture, and two of its graduates were chosen to represent the new avant garde in a show of contemporary Irish artists being held in the Angela Flowers Gallery in London as part of the Sense of Ireland Exhibition. The two young women were both from Cork, Éilís O’Connell and Vivienne Roche. Éilís showed three works on paper, which she described as “three dimensional drawings” and Vivienne exhibited watercolours. Another graduate Dorothy Cross had gone onto study at the Leinster Polytechnic and in California, where she specialised in sculpture. All three of the latter are still artists of great repute exhibiting at home and abroad.

To be continued…

Caption:

765a. Canova casts at Crawford Art Gallery (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 16 October 2014

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

Copy of 764a. Aerial of Cork City Centre 1975

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 16 October 2014

“Technical Memories (Part 90)

– Forty Years Ago, Cork RTC Opens”

An important occasion for the Cork Regional Technical College was how the principal James P Roche described the conferring of 135 students from eight faculties with national certificates and diplomas. The conferring was performed by Pádraig Mac Diarmada, Director of the National Council for Education Awards in the presence of a distinguished gathering (J A Cullen, journalist, Evening Echo, Tuesday 19 November 1974, p.9).

     Cork’s CIT campus celebrates its 40th birthday this month. The new college at Rossa Avenue officially began operations on 1 October 1974 with close on 4,000 students enrolled (most of them male). Those who received certificates and diplomas at the first conferring ceremony in November 1974 had pursued their studies in the Crawford Municipal Technical Institute, its annexes and the School of Commerce. Remarks by the principal Mr James Roche in the Evening Echo on 19 November 1974 highlighted the important difference between the Cork College and other regional colleges – the Cork College was to be a “confluence of activities and traditions already in existence rather than a new department in technical education”.

     The Cork College was by far the largest of the regional colleges and at that point in time the college was awaiting the addition of courses in navigation studies and catering studies. The journalist reporting on the conferring noted of potential space problems going forward; “The College must be extended in the near future to provide for the development in range and level of courses, which is inevitable”. In the beginning, the role of the college extended over the region comprising Cork City, Cork County and South Kerry and embraced a population of nearly half a million people. Mr Roche detailed that in the past technical education in Cork City had provided a service mostly to people within the urban area; “the Regional College must serve and must be seen to serve the whole region in a much more extensive way, from the outset, and must not be identified as a city college”.

    Mr Roche added that the college was to provide an opportunity for young men and women in the region for obtaining an education and training over a wide range of disciplines and with a flexible and extensive award system; “The flow of students from all parts of the region to the college to take these courses was considerably strengthen the college both in size and in standard; “Also, the flow and qualified and trained graduates from the college back to all parts of the region will immeasurably enhance and strengthen these areas and help in the development and support of economic improvements. This is the real importance of the college and the real responsibility which it must face”.

 

    In the Cork RTC in 1974, there were a substantial range of courses, for example the courses for certificates and diplomas in business studies, certificated and diplomas in applied chemistry, applied biology, civil engineering, mechanical engineering and marine engineering. There were construction studies leading to certificates and to diplomas in construction economics and architecture. There were certificate courses in instrument physics, electrical engineering and medical laboratory technology. There were courses in textile technology, marine electronics and radio/television servicing. Some of these courses were new in Cork whilst others were long established with a graduate output which had made substantial impact over the previous decade in business and industry. According to Mr Roche, “this acceptance by industry of graduates is a further guarantee of the validity and relevance of the courses”. Some of the work was of particular national significance, for example the Marine engineering course. There was also a course for the training of engineers to professional level and it was hoped at the time to provide an avenue through the Diploma in Engineering on to professional level.

    Mr Roche also alluded to the perspectives of educational leaders in Tralee, who argued that the technical college there should be designated a Regional Technical College with a region comprising all of Co Kerry, South Limerick and North Cork. To Roche this represented a “major deletion from the catchment area of the Cork RTC”. The proposal was well supported in Tralee and had been canvassed for at national level as well. Roche claimed the need for standards and a large catchment area; “there is a standard for technical colleges, an international standard, and the technical colleges here are bound by that standard. There is a critical size and necessary range of activities for a bona fida college. The Cork RTC can meet these criteria but it must serve and be supported by a major catchment area”.

     Mr Roche also commented on the close link between technical education in Cork and University College. A successful example of that had been the Diploma in Chemical Technology, which was highly rated. There had also been the partnership with UCC in a food science diploma. This kind of development, said Mr Roche, was of great significance in the regional context’ “it highlights the need for a real appreciation and understanding of the importance of the RTC in providing education and training at the appropriate levels as a fundamental service to every part of Cork City, Cork County and South County Kerry”.

To be continued…

 

Captions:

764a. Aerial of Cork City Centre 1975 (source: Local Studies, Cork City Library)