Our top ten stories of 2021
We revisit some of the stories that have been most popular with readers this year; the most-read story may surprise you.
As 2021 draws to a close, we're looking back on our first year in business as an independent media outlet. We’ve covered everything from maternity hospital Covid restrictions to the possibility of providing a bike to Cork City’s Lord Mayor, from fresh struggles for medical cannabis activist Vera Twomey to the reasons why fishermen protested in Cork harbour.
The Our Cork 2040 series grappled with issues including agriculture and environment, water quality, direct provision, ageing or experiencing mental illness in the city, dyslexia and domestic violence.
Our “Friday View” weekly roundup acted as a bulletin board for city and county events.
We launched an Arts + Culture tab in September and the podcast element of these weekly Saturday arts features has been growing in popularity.
But what were our top ten most popular stories of 2021?
Here they are, in ascending order.
Just click the title if you’d like to read them.
10: Gone Viral and Going Solo
Ellie catches up with comedian Tadhg Hickey for an open and honest chat about meditation, family, politics, online abuse, those comedy sketches, and if “punching up” can ever morph into “punching down.”
9: This is (not a) Lost Cat poster
In August, a strange poster started popping up in Cork city and in Fermoy: it may have looked like a child’s prank, but it was actually part of an art project that has reached every single continent in the intervening months. We tracked down the artist behind the image, one Steve Chapman, or Stevexoh as he’s known.
8: Everything you wanted to know about Cork’s new Robo-trees but were afraid to ask
When the news that Cork city council had spent €350,000 on five high-tech air purifying CityTrees broke, many people had questions and many more were vaguely outraged at the cost of the machines.
So we called up the manufacturers and did some digging and tried to answer as many as the questions that seemed to be floating around in the public sphere as possible.
7: Beasts for the East?
The intensification of agriculture in East Cork, including permission for Dairygold to discharge Fats, Oils and Greases into the harbour and planning permission for an intensive pig farm near Ballymacoda, raised concerns for the water quality of East Cork’s beaches in 2021. Ellie interviews local residents who aren’t best pleased with what they view as the industrialisation of their rural environment.
6: A City Rising….Towards What?
`Will prestigious glossy new offices and five star hotels in Cork City’s docklands development leave any room for the vulnerable in our society? Unless development is spearheaded by an expansion of services, Penny Dinners’ Caitríona Twomey tells us, and if services are an after thought, it’s only sticking plaster terrain: “Patching things up with a sticking plaster afterwards is not good enough: the wound is already festering.”
5: Why Cork has so many vacant homes and derelict sites
Our very first article was also one of our most popular: JJ’s look at the problem of dereliction in Cork city. Not only are vacant and derelict buildings an eyesore, but in light of the housing crisis Ireland faces, can we afford to have all these empty buildings in our towns and cities when people are living in emergency accommodation?
4: Miracle Man
He’s the man who lives a quiet life in Cork city while simultaneously being a massive international online superstar. Gavin Dunne may well be the cliché of all clichés: Cork’s best kept secret.
3: Aramark and the English Market
The English Market is the jewel in the crown of Cork's foodie culture. So why is it managed by a company notorious for its US prison food and management of direct provision centres in Ireland? This article was widely shared by readers who didn’t know that Aramark managed the market.
2: Locavore: a month of eating only Irish Food
A surprising hit in some ways, this is the personal tale of Ellie’s now-annual quest to eat only foods grown in Ireland for the month of September. The popularity of this article may have been in part due to the national coverage it received when she went on air with Ryan Tubridy on RTÉ radio to discuss the challenge.
1: Cool Mountain Memories
Far and away the top-read article on Tripe + Drisheen this year was the story of Fred Callow’s self-sufficient lifestyle on Cool Mountain near Dunmanway. Fred’s book, Blow-in: Living off-grid in West Cork, is published by small West Cork publishing house Sweeney & O’Donovan, and it can be purchased from their website.
How and why Fred’s story struck such a chord with so many is not clear to us, but if you liked it, and would like other similar articles in future, free free to let us know!
Postscript: the ones that got away
For all the stories that were widely shared and read, both JJ and Ellie have had stories that surprised them in how little attention they received: stories that seemed bigger than the impact that they had.
Which stories would we like you to read all over?
JJ’s pick: Making Corcaigh Irish Speaking. Arís.
“That time of year when people set goals for the New Year might be a good time to revisit this piece, which takes a look at some of the people trying to make a space for Irish as a living language in the city.”
Ellie’s pick: The two-parter on the Celtic Interconnector plans for Youghal
“I just can’t get my head around how overlooked this enormous story is, and I think this might be in part because it creates some cognitive dissonance for people: against a backdrop of a push for climate action, how can we know these actions are the right ones? How do we ensure ‘just transition’ isn’t only a concept for the global south, but for our coastal communities too? Big questions. A very important story.”