McCarthy: Longterm Dereliction Not an Option
Press Release
Cork City Council must act upon derelict sites through compulsory purchase order especially if they are long term blights on the landscape, says Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy.
In recent City Council debates on dereliction in Cork City, Cllr McCarthy has voiced concern again that the derelict site fine has become too blunt an instrument to deal with dangerous buildings in older parts of the city. At this moment is time, landowners are fined 3 per cent per year of the land value. However, it was heard during a Council finance committee meeting last week that under five per cent of the fines can be only drawn down by the Council due to many long term derelict sites in limbo with their legal title and in NAMA.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “There are over over 100 registered derelict sites in Cork City, which have been identified as derelict and unsightly and whose landowners have been fined. It’s an absolute disgrace that some owners have left their buildings in such a state over decades. I have no problem with someone who genuinely cannot develop their premises for financial reasons and who board up their building accordingly plus then develop when they can- But I have a huge problem with landowners with no sense of civic responsibility, who let their properties fall into disrepair and who create rotting concrete wildernesses”.
“Even in my own ward from Ballinlough to Donnybrook, there are empty properties- where the owners seem to have disappeared. Many could be turned back around into housing units. Many are the ongoing concern of neighbours – fearful of rodents or fire or generally bringing down the calibre of an area. There must be quicker mechanisms to cut through the red tape- especially legal title and NAMA related properties”, continued Cllr McCarthy.
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 4 July 2019
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 4 July 2019
Tales from 1919: Alfred’s Interventions
In late June and early July 1919, the Cork Sinn Féin Executive arranged a series of public lectures aimed at increasing local activism whilst critiquing Westminster social policies in Ireland. The lectures were delivered by Professor Alfred O’Rahilly (1884-1969) to an interested audience, in the Council Chamber of Cork City Hall. Obituaries across various national newspapers for the professor in 1969 detail he was a native of Listowel and was educated by the Holy Ghost Fathers at Blackrock College, south of Dublin. Eamon de Valera was one of his contemporaries in the college. Having obviously a vocation to the priesthood. Alfred chose to join the Jesuits on leaving school and after the usual period of novitiate he went to Stonyhurst. His studies in philosophy there resulted in the award of a Roman Doctor of Philosophy. He was still with the Jesuits when he entered the old university college conducted by them in Dublin under the Royal University. There Alfred widened his earlier courses in modern languages to concentrate on science. Before long he was to receive a Doctor of Science for his large project on electro magnetics. However, he left the Jesuits to form a new career as a militant layman.
In 1914 a vacancy arose as a lecturer in mathematics in University College Cork under Bertram Windle’s presidency. Professor Windle at once welcomed Alfred and his ability and training. In a few years, Alfred had become Professor of Mathematical Physics. He was elected Registrar of the College in 1920, and much of his constructive work within the college was pursued during the ensuing 30 years under the presidency of Dr Merriman (whom he succeeded as President in 1943).
In the late 1910s Alfred became intensely concerned with social reform and economics and with the ardent narrative of younger nationalists. His theological and philosophical training enabled him to become a spokesman for Sinn Féin when ecclesiastical censure was threatened. He was always prepared to challenge authority and military repression in Ireland when he disagreed with it. He was elected to the Cork Corporation, and as a member of it in 1920 he proposed the election of Lord Mayor MacCurtain and afterwards of Lord Mayor MacSwiney (to replace him). Alfred took charge of the public funerals for both Lord Mayors, in defiance of all forms of British intimidation.
Professor Alfred O’Rahilly’s lecture on 27 June 1919 at Cork City Hall was written up in the Cork Examiner and focused on the topic of “Co-operation in a Republic”. He pointed out that the ideal of a Republic was very vague and negative, and that there was great need for constructive and positive aims. In his personal view was that the “Irish Ireland” had been lacking in social and economic thought – that what confronted Ireland’s future was a lack of trained ability and competence and business knowledge and organising ability. Co-operative thinking and bringing people together in business and enact a form of “democratic control”.
On Tuesday 1 July 1919 Professor O’Rahilly’s lecture was entitled “Some Suggestions for a Sinn Féin Labour Policy”. He pointed out that there was really no Labour programme policy in Ireland, and, except as regards the land, there never was. For many reasons, it was high time to produce a coherent policy. He outlined that Ireland was the victim of centralisation policy with powers taken away from counties, towns and cities. As a contrast to the English system he gave the example of Switzerland, whose area was half that of Ireland, whose population in 1919 was half a million less. Professor O’Rahilly outlined that Switzerland was a Federal Republic and consisted of twenty-two sovereign States. He suggested that Ireland should have a federalism system at work; “Each county and each large county borough should be autonomous. We in the rest of Ireland should make it clear that we have no desire whatever to interfere with, say, Belfast and its prosperity. Similarly, Cork is quite competent to manage its own affairs, and has as much right to independence as Antrim”. The ideal should be not be a bureaucracy in Dublin, but “ample local liberty, and in the Irish capital (a) a National Council elected by adult suffrage, and (b) a Council of States or counties with, say, two deputies from each”.
Professor O’Rahilly’s second focus at his July lecture was the quest for sovereignty of the people. He proposed that a referendum should be held, whereby, for example, eight counties, or 30,000 voters, could insist that any legislative Act passed by the National Assembly must be submitted to the direct vote of the people for ratification or rejection. The power of such an initiative, for example, would mean that the Transport Workers could draft a Bill, without consulting the Government.
Professor O’Rahilly also dealt with some social and industrial projects, in particular with housing, drink control, and education. He noted that one of the most pressing needs in Ireland’s future would be the organisation of a system of national credit for the financing of now or neglected industries, and the utilisation of Irish resources. He considered that foreign capital constituted a danger, “as Irish capital was being artificially drained out of the country”.
July Walking Tours:
Saturday 6 July 2019, The City Workhouse, historical walking tour with Kieran; learn about Cork City’s workhouse created for 2,000 impoverished people in 1841; meet just inside the gates of St Finbarr’s Hospital, Douglas Road, 12noon (free, duration: two hours, on site tour, part of Friends of St Finbarr’s Hospital garden fete).
Saturday 13 July 2019, The Victorian Quarter; historical walking tour with Kieran of the area around St Patrick’s Hill – Wellington Road and McCurtain Street; meet on the Green at Audley Place, top of St Patrick’s Hill, 11am (free, duration: two hours).
Sunday 14 July 2019, Sunday’s Well, historical walking tour with Kieran; discover the original well and the eighteenth-century origins of the suburb, meet at St Vincent’s Bridge, North Mall end, 2.30pm (free, duration: two hours).
Caption:
1004a. Professor Alfred O’Rahilly, c.1944 as President of University College Cork, now on display in the Aula Maxima in the college (picture: Kieran McCarthy)
Pictures, Carnival of Science, Fitzgerald’s Park, Cork, June 2019
Kieran’s Speech, Launch of Cork Cycling Festival, 29 June 2019
Cork Cycling Festival, Cllr Kieran McCarthy
Many thanks for the invitation to address you this evening. Congratulations on organising another year of the Cork Cycling Festival. The small organising committee are a group of committed individuals who I know have the promotion of Cork at its heart. Cork is a city of festivals – we have over 30 of them and over 110 days. It seems the last few weeks Cork has seen several high profile festivals where there has been much focus on Ireland’s southern capital.
A breakdown on any of these festivals show that many of their organising committee are also small but have continued to put Cork on the cultural map. All too often the City does not reflect on the committees as almost family like structures, whose knowledge build-up is organic and is based on foundations of years of experience, and a real belief that the festival is positively important to the city’s DNA.
The Cork Cycling Festival draws on these latter points – it is a family, it has years of experience, it’s ongoing knowledge build up is organic, and speaking with any of the organisers, they clearly have an infectious positive outlook. And what may look like a festival, which ticks away annually, it is the origins of the species when it comes to promoting cycling and all its positive narratives within our city and the methodologies gleamed from previous festivals should not be forgotten about. In particular I love the idea that the festival works and splices with other aspects of Cork’s DNA – its landscapes, its histories, the passing down of heritage, its food, education, lifelong learning elements, its communities. Not every festival within this fair city does that or can boast that the whole city is its playground.
This positive and spliced narrative is one which supporters of cycling in the city need to champion. Whilst knocking on almost 8,000 doors recently, the narrative on cycling is one which is very split in a whole series of different perspectives – many of them more or less statement-like. I recorded in my notebook some citizen perspectives or quotes which I wish to briefly share….
“Cycling is my mode of commute to work sets me up for a positive day”.
“My friend was knocked down by a speeding cyclist on the old railway line, who didn’t stop”.
“I enjoy watching my kids learning to cycle – it is a great skill to have”.
“Cyclists should be taxed if they wish to use the road”.
“I feel healthy. It’s a great feeling to cycle along and view Cork and its beauty”.
“Many cyclists abuse the rules of the road”.
“The Coke bike scheme had its millionth customer last year. There is an interest in cycling”.
“Very few people cycle in this city”.
“We need to improve the cycling networks and infrastructure to make it easier for anyone interested in cycling to engage with it”.
“Gardai should be out in force stopping cyclists cycling on footpaths”.
“Cycling is a way of life we have forgotten”.
End quotes:
I have no doubt that many of you in this room from the amateur to the passionate cyclist agree with some of these and disagree with some of them. For me coming away from the doors, I thought about what do all of these statements and what do they mean about the future of cycling. What is clear is that there are passionate stances about the future of cycling in the city but it always seems like when it comes to cycling the city walks on eggshells. The cycling narrative in our city seems more like a battleground, with an evolution needed on all sides of the debate more so than a revolution.
There is a really great need to find some kind of common ground about the positives of cycling but also deal with the negative aspects. For me in an ideal world this community festival is one such targeted approach to resolving issues arising out there. However, we need more of such positive community approaches to cycling. In the Council chamber I have asked the Council appoint a dedicated cycling officer, whose post would be to draw the various positive strands of thought together on cycling in this enlarged city. That for me remains my plan of attack in the short term.
I wish to thank all the sponsors attached to the Cork Cycling Festival.
And thank you again for the invitation.
Pictures, Shandon Street Festival, June 2019
Thanks to Linda, James and all the team for another great Shandon Street Festival 🙂
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 27 June 2019
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 27 June 2019
Tales from 1919: The Life of William Martin Murphy
On 27 June 1919 newspapers across the country ran their regret of announcing the death of Mr William Martin Murphy, which took place in Dublin. He was one of the most prominent men in Irish commercial circles, being actively engaged at the heart of many enterprises.
William was born in the year 1844, the son of Mr Denis William Murphy, a building contractor from Berehaven, County Cork, his mother being a daughter of Mr James Martin, also of Berehaven. His primary education was received in a private school at Bantry. In 1858 he entered Belvedere College, Dublin, as a student. On that first trip to Dublin – from Bantry to Dublin – he had a forty-five-mile coach drive to Cork City and the next day had a six-hour train journey from the city to Dublin.
On the finishing of his college course, William became a pupil of the then well-known Dublin architect, Mr John J Lyons. However, at the age of 19 William’s father passed away who was then extensively engaged as contractor for public works in the South of Ireland. As some contracts of an important nature had not yet been completed, the energy and capabilities of his only son William were put to the test. He not only undertook and completed the works – which his father had in hand, but he extended and developed the business generally. Before long he returned to Dublin to develop his business.
Shortly after transferring permanently to Dublin William became interested in the construction and development of street and road tramways in the city and its suburbs. For many years he worked in this direction, not alone in Dublin and other parts of Ireland, but in many important centres in Great Britain. Up to 1895 no tramway in Ireland had been run by electricity, save a line, from Portrush to the Giant’s Causeway, which was worked under a system not practicable in a city. As a result of a visit to America in 1895, William witnessed the work of George Francis Train, the inventor of tramways. On his return he promptly proposed its adoption in Dublin on the overhead wire and trolley system. William soon saw the fruition of his project and the electric system year on year extended all over the city and suburbs, radiating from the centre outwards. He also promoted and built the Cork electric tram line.
From small beginnings in 1880 as a contractor for the Bantry rail extension to Drimoleague, William became one of the most influential figures in the Irish railway business. Subsequently he went on to construct lines such as Wexford and Rosslare, the Clara and Banagher, West and South Clare, Mitchelstown and Fermoy, Tuam and Claremorris, Skibbereen and Baltimore, and the Bantry Extension. Later in life he organised the construction of railways on the Gold Coast in West Africa from his London sub office. William also became the director of a number of rail lines, being elected to the board of the Waterford and Limerick line in 1885, and when this was amalgamated into the Great Southern and Western Railway in 1901, he was subsequently elected to the Board of Ireland’s premier railway company in 1903.
William’s first connection with journalism was in November 1890 when at the time of the Parnell split, he took a leading part in the founding of the National Press. In 1892 the National Press amalgamated with the Freeman’s Journal and having been one of the largest directors in the former, William became a director of the new concern. In 1900 William decided to purchase the Irish Daily Independent, then offered for sale under a court of bankruptcy.
William also figured in the public life of the country. He was a prominent member of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, of which he was Chairman for about two years. He was also a member of Parliament representing Dublin from 1885 to 1892. He was a member of the Irish Convention in 1911. He took a leading and active part in advocating Home Rule and carried a representative section of the Convention with him.
In 1912, William established the Dublin Employer’s Federation as a reaction to the growing power of organised labour. Worried that the trade unions would destroy his Dublin tram system, he led Dublin employers against the trade unions led by James Larkin, an opposition that culminated in the Dublin Lockout of 1913. William locked out all workers who refused to resign from the union. The 1913 Lockout in Dublin was a major industrial dispute between almost 20,000 workers and 300 employers. It lasted from 26 August 1913 to 18 January 1914 and is often seen as the most severe and important industrial dispute in Irish history.
William was the leading promoter of the Irish International Exhibition at Herbert Park, Ballsbridge, Dublin in 1909. His leadership was stamped all over the project. During the visit of King Edward VII to the Exhibition William was offered a title but refused it.
Notwithstanding his business engagements William found time to devote himself to the Society of St Vincent de Paul. From 1867 to 1875 he was president of the Society’s Conference at St Finbarr’s South Chapel, Cork. Subsequently he founded a new Conference at Terenure, County Dublin, of which for several years he was the President.
Next walking tour:
Saturday 6 July, The City Workhouse, historical walking tour with Kieran; learn about Cork City’s workhouse created for 2,000 impoverished people in 1841; meet just inside the gates of St Finbarr’s Hospital, Douglas Road, 12noon (free, duration: two hours, on site tour, part of Friends of St Finbarr’s Hospital garden fete).
Captions:
1003a. William Martin Murphy, a painting by William Orpen (source: National Gallery, Dublin)
1003b. Tram at Blackrock, Cork, c.1901 (source: Cork City Library)
Pictures, Cork Summer Show, June 2019
Congrats to the Munster Agricultural Society for another successful Cork Summer Show in Curaheen.
Cork Carnival of Science, Fitzgerald’s Park, 22-23 June 2019
The excitement is building for Cork Carnival of Science in Fitzgerald’s Park on Saturday 22 & Sunday 23 June. There is a jam packed line-up of live demonstrations, big top shows, hands on workshops and entertainment.
