The Friday View 03/02
We have a brand new bank holiday in honour of St. Brigid. Plus our round-up of news and events from around the city and county.
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This year marks the first time that Ireland will celebrate St. Brigid with a special bank holiday, which arrives next Monday, February 6.
The February bank holiday is also the first time a public holiday in Ireland is named after a woman, and while I am no expert on St. Brigid - but when has that ever stopped a journalist writing hundreds of words on anything?! - I have a (wonderful) sister named Bríd and my grandmother Bridget was one of the sharpest and firecest people I ever knew.
This year, there’s been no shortage of St. Brigid-related content on the lead up St. Brigid’s Day and the new bank holiday, including Finding Brigid, a documentary on RTÉ fronted by Cork-born “Derry Girls” actor Siobhán McSweeney featuring a list of the usual RTÉ suspects, as well as some new faces. But, the bank holiday and programmes such as Finding Brigid have put the triple goddess firmly back in the public consciousness.
As this Cork-based publication gushed this week: St. Brigid is cool again. Bless them.
St. Brigid, it seems, is all things to all people: an activist, poet, bishop, trailblazer, inspiration, peace weaver, role model, companion, and spiritual guide. That’s just an abridged list. As McSweeney notes, “Brigid is a mirror.”
Thankfully, Finding Brigid went beyond the mirror metaphor to dig deeper into the life and legacy of the saint. It’s fair to say, Brigid deserves the attention she is getting in this century, and that goes beyond the symbolic Brigid’s Cross (Crios Bríde).
As a symbol, the cross is a great place to start off. As Dr. Mary Condren pointed out in Finding Brigid, the eponymous cross is based on the swastika 卐, a near universal religious symbol. The Brigid Cross is a slightly stylised version of the swastika. I remember the shock of first seeing the swastika (everywhere) in Japan where it’s used to signify temples. (The Nazis co-opted the swastika).
Back when I was making the crosses in school, either I missed the fact that the design of Brigid’s cross is based on the swastika, or more likely we all did as it was glossed over. Indeed, that’s likely what is missing in a lot of what we learned, or didn’t, about St. Brigid: context - how she fitted in, and went against the tide in pre-Christian Ireland.
Whether the real Brigid will rise above the folklore and goddess version is debatable. Maybe, it’s an interminable academic debate, but what’s not disputed is that across centuries Brigid has inspired generations of women and men to be compassionate and strong.
And who knows, a new bank holiday in her honour might result in a resurgence in the popularity of the name Brigid. According to the Central Statistics Office, in 2021, only three girls were named Brigid. Three legends no doubt. Enjoy the long weekend.
-JJ
Tweet of the week: Spring has sprung on Douglas Street
News in brief
Walk (and cycle) this way: This week the National Transport Authority (NTA) announced funding of nearly €57m for cycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects across Cork city and county. Cork City Council have been allocated nearly €35m while the County Council has been allocated more than €22m. The money will be spent on upgrades to cycle lanes, new pedestrian crossings, automatic bollards, signage, cycle schemes and other projects related to active travel. Noticeable by their absence from the funding list were parts of the city, such as Blackpool, on the edge of Cork city in the northside.
Nine primary schools in the city were also allocated funding as part of the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Programme launched in 2021. The SRTS scheme is funded by the Department of Transport through the National Transport Authority and is open to all schools. The purpose of the scheme is to improve walking and cycling access to schools and alleviate congestion around school gates. Apart from St. Luke’s National School in Montenotte, all of the schools that received grants in the first two rounds of funding are located on the southside of the city. The full list of active travel grants can be found here. Information about applying for the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Programme can be found here.
Fun run: Across Ireland there are 30 junior parkruns, short running courses set up for kids between the ages of 4-14. The weekly runs are organized by local residents and volunteers who fan out along the 2km course. They focus is on fun and exercise. There are two junior parkruns in Cork, in Cobh and Ballincollig and the plan is to add a third course at Clashduv Park in Togher. At the moment a small band of volunteers are looking to recruit more people, plan the course and get the event off the ground. Anyone interested in helping out should get in contact with John Kissane (email address in poster above).
Put up a multi-story parking lot: Like many towns across the county, Kinsale is trying to figure out how to solve a problem like parking (or too many cars in a confined space). That problem intensifies in the summer, when thousands of visitors pour into the medieval town. The vast majority arrive by car.
Councillors, planners, the business community and locals in Kinsale have long been debating for ways to make the town less congested and more pedestrian and cycle-friendly. A multi-storey car park has long been touted as a possible solution. But, it’s a controversial solution. In November, at a meeting of the Bandon Kinsale Municipal District meeting, members requested a report about the possibility of a multi-storey car park as well as a traffic action plan for last month’s council meeting. Tripe + Drisheen have inquired about that report and will look into it in due course.
Reimagining Kinsale, a wide-ranging document drawn up by architects Scott Tallon Walker (STW) for Kinsale Chamber, touches on two possible sites for multi-storey car parks in the town, one at the old Fire Station and the other at Church Square. In their report Scott Tallon Walker points to multi-storey car parks elsewhere such as the “Parking House” in Copengahen as a model of how to build a multi purpose multi-storey car park. STW writes: “The first impression of the carpark must be a positive one, the experience of using the facility must be a positive one that brings a smile to the face and says something about the spirit of the town it serves.”
Local Green Party Representative Marc Ó’Riain said “slapping a multi-story car park in the centre of town would be madness and totally at odds with the County Development plan.” There’s no sign of a multi-storey car park coming any time soon, nor any reduction in traffic either.
Out + About
🎶Musicians Aine O’Gormon and Victoria Keating will perform at the Aula Maxima today (Friday, February 3) at 1.10pm as part of UCC’s Fuaim lunchtime series. To celebrate the new bank holiday in honour of St. Brigid, the West Cork-based duo will be performing Brigid (press play above to listen to it), inspired and dedicated to our patron saint. The song was recorded in Wavefield Studios in Clonakilty by Brian Casey and features Aisling Irwin on harp. Aine and Victoria met at UCC, where they both studied music, so they will be back on familiar and creative ground.
Time, date, place: 1:10pm, Friday Bebruary 3, the Aula Maxima UCC.
🖼The Crawford Art Gallery is marking the St. Brigid bank holiday as an opportunity to recognise the role of women through our arts and cultural heritage. The Gallery has a range of events to celebrate St. Brigid including workshops, art tours and musical recitals.
In the Gallery’s Long Room on Monday 6 February from 1:30pm - 3:30pm there will be a free workshop for children and adults on the theme of hospitality. The Crawford has also created an activity trail for children that will explore themes of hospitality, wisdom, and warfare. No booking required.
A special tour of the Crawford’s collection will highlight the themes of women, nature, and mythology to celebrate St. Brigid. The tours will take place at 2 pm on Sunday 5 February and Monday 6 February. No booking required.
Music also features strongly in the Crawford’s celebration of St. Brigid. As part of their Music at Midday which takes place in the Gallery’s Long Room, the Crawford will host musicians from the MTU Cork School of Music who will be playing music from Franz Schubert's 'Death and the Maiden' string quartet . From 12pm on February 6.
Between 2:30pm to 4:30pm on Monday 6 February, musicians Conor O' Sullivan and Karl Nesbitt will take the musical direction down a different path celebrating St. Brigid with traditional music, song, and dance. Free and no booking required.
Full details of all events for St. Brigid bank holiday are on the Crawford’s website.
🚲A symposium of cyclists: Kicking off today, the Institute for Social Science in the 21st Century at UCC, will hold a two-day symposium on cycling. The symposum, orgainsed in collaboration with Cork Environmental Forum and the Cork Cycling Campaign, will feature a range of discussions on research around cycling. Tripe + Drisheen will be going along to the launch on the symposium at City Hall today (look out for a news story in your inboxe later). Dr Meredith Glaser, from the Urban Cycling Institute at the University of Amsterdam, will give the keynote address. There will also be a cycle around the ciy to wrap up the events on the first day. More details and how to register attendance can be found here.
Time, date, place: Friday - Saturday, Februray 3-4, City Hall and UCC.
This week on T +D
On Monday, Ellie published the third installment of her month-long journey, if that’s the right phrase, of going car-free. Ellie reported on her trip to Co. Clare in this week’s diary piece as well as how taking the bus in the city lines up with cycling, her usual mode of transport when she’s not driving. Next Monday is the final installment.
On Tuesday, we published news about a new manifesto from Cork Kerry RTAWG (Regional Traveller Accommodation Working Group). The manifesto, which was launched in Cork, wants local councillors to set up a new task force to tackle the “hidden crisis” of housing for Travellers. You can read that story here:
On Wednesday, Ellie wrote about a novel form of protest: dancing at Shronagree outside Ballydehob in West Cork. The dancing protestors are highlighting an application by Ballybane Wind Farms 2 to Cork County Council for planning permission for seven 150 metre wind turbines. Full story below:
That’s it for this week’s Friday View. We’re back tomorrow with our Thursday long read (but on Saturday). Any tips, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, contact Ellie at emailellieobyrne@gmail.com. We are always happy to speak to people off the record in the first instance, and we will treat your information with confidence and sensitivity. Get in touch.