Council watch: Cork City Council votes to sell city park land to Freemasons for €1

The vote to dispose of a corner of the park was passed by a wide majority. Elsewhere, councillors voted on a name for Cork's newest bridge and the saga of the Event Centre rumbles on.

The Freemason building on Tuickey Street and the birch tree grove in Bishop Lucey Park. Credit: Kilian McCann

Cork City Councillors voted by a margin of 18 to seven in favour of disposing of a corner of land in Bishop Lucey Park to the Freemasons for €1. The all-male group has had a premise on Tuckey Street since the 1840s and is seeking to expand into the park in order to add a staircase to the external structure of the building.

Councillors voting in favor of the disposal highlighted that the building currently lacks universal access. The Masonic Hall is only open to the public on Culture Night. However, under the proposed plans, it would be accessible to the public for up to 20 hours per month as part of the new agreement.

The deal secures 54 square metres of land - about 1% of the land area of the park - for the Freemasons for a nominal fee of €1, in addition to €1,500 in costs.

Cllr Terry Shannon (FF) said disposals happen at Council level "all the time" and it was the right thing to do.

"We speak all the time about dereliction, and we need to look after our heritage buildings, and in this instance, it is not safe, and it needs its fire escape plus access."

Cllr Des Cahill (FG) said councillors must resist doing the “easy thing” in favour of the right thing.

Cllr Shannon was one of two councillors who declared that for the longest time, he thought Freemasons provided free building services. They are, in fact, a fraternity driven by brotherly love, providing charity and a dedication to the truth.

Cllr Loran Bogue (An Rabharta Glas-Green Left)) voted against the sale to the Freemasons on the grounds that the City Council was giving away public land to a private institution, "land which is owned by the people of Cork being given to an organisation that excludes 50% of the population is the wrong message."

“The park is for all and should have be kept that way by the council,” she said.

Cllr Oliver Moran (Green Party), in voting against the proposal, said he was concerned about the governance of the agreed access to the building. He also said that the loss of public land would result in the removal of a birch grove dedicated to remembering all those whose lives were irreversibly changed by the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster.

Paul Moynihan, Cork City Council’s Director of Corporate Affairs and International Relations, said that the masonic hall will benefit from investment under the disposal and that the City Council will formalise access arrangements within that 20-hour provision.

Elsewhere, councillors voted twice on the shortlist of names proposed by the public for the new bridge connecting Tramore Valley Park to Grange and Frankfield on the south side of the city. In a run-off vote, Vernon Mount Bridge emerged as the winner, beating out Fuinseog Dubh/Black Ash Bridge by a margin of 14 votes to 12.

“As members of Cork City Council on the tenth day of July, 2023 we hereby name the new bridge the Vernon Mount Bridge,” the new Lord Mayor Kieran McCarthy said at the end of the voting process.

It is expected that the bridge will be opened later this year.

A show of support

Members of the public show support for library staff at last week’s protest march to Cork Ciyt Hall. Credit: JJ O’Donoghue

Intimidation of library staff, who are employed by the City Council, as well as protests at the City Library, dominated the latter part of the monthly meeting chaired by Cllr Kieran McCarthy, who was deputising as Lord Mayor for the first time.

David O'Brien, Cork City Librarian, addressed the chamber and expressed gratitude for the support shown by councillors and members of the public during last week's march from the City Library to City Hall.

Mr. O'Brien outlined that he has been targeted by the alt-right online and subjected to accusations such as being a "paedophile" and a "Freemason," among other things.

He said that protestors were completely wrong in thinking that library staff would be a soft target and paid tribute to the library staff who have supported each other along the way.

Mr O'Brien recognised that while in some quarters, people might see inaction on the part of the City Council and senior library management, but that was not the case.

"What you might see as inaction is actually a measure whereby we were actually trying to dampen down the flames because the more fuel you give it, the more it goes bananas," he said.

IIn a show of support from all councillors before Mr O'Brien spoke, Cllr Mick Finn (Independent) asked if it will come to the situation where the library will have to employ security guards on a full-time basis to protect staff.

Non Event Centre

The long-running saga around the Event Centre was also discussed via a question from Cllr Mick Finn, who asked the Executive for an update on the site which had its sod turning in 2016.

Last week, it was reported in The Irish Examiner that €1.5m of public money has been spent on the empty site following a Freedom of Information request by Labour representative Peter Horgan.

In reply to Cllr Finn, John Hallahan, the City Council CFO, said that a detailed design process will be completed this month.

Following that, “the level of funding/costing parameter changes will be determined. Cork City Council will undertake a full verification process on the final design costings once received. Once the verification process is completed, final discussions with the joint venture will take place.

What that means is that neither the CFO of Cork City Council nor anyone else has any idea when there will be a start date for the project.

The wait goes on. And on.