☕️The Friday View 04/04
Libraries, LUAS, bikes, cameras, April's fools, Cork Fringe, complaints, and an action plan for Shandon. Plus, our usual round-up of what's on for the week ahead.
Good morning and welcome to the Friday View on T+D. Let’s get to it!
A new city library: The city library on Grand Parade will turn 100 years old next decade, and, not to knock it, but good lord, if ever there was a building that feels tired, it’s this one. Don’t get us wrong: as an institution, it’s one of our favourites, and helpfully located right in the city centre, with a programme packed with events week in, week out (watch out for BookFest at the end of the month). But as we said, if ever a building felt like it belonged in the last century, this one would raise its weary hand.
Cut to this week and The Examiner floated the idea that the City Council might relocate the library to the BAM-owned Counting House. This isn’t entirely new, but what would be news is if it’s actually being considered. The Council’s response to the story was vague at best.
According to council documents, there are funds and a plan for a new city library. As per the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund project list:
City Library including site assembly – This project seeks to develop a new city library to rejuvenate the area. It is also proposed to provide a 1,600sqm Sanctuary Garden on the rooftop of the library which will be a secure place for older people and people with disabilities to enjoy Cork’s urban biodiversity. This project is expected to be complete in 2028, and has been provisionally allocated €33m.
On the face of it, the Counting House, part of the former Beamish & Crawford Brewery, could be an amazing library (would they rename it the ‘Reading House’?). There would be work to reconfigure it, but there’s a huge amount of office space to the side and to the back, and, barring a National Children’s Hospital fiasco, if they got the green light, surely they’d be in by 2025. You could even walk the books across. We all could.
Staying with libraries, we wrote about the lack of a library in Mahon and Blackrock on the south sideof the city and the decades-long campaign to get one in there. It’s not for lack of available land. And there are plenty of councillors who you would think would have more sway. But, then again, maybe they don’t.
Mahon and Blackrock in Cork City have never had a permanent library. Why?
Chris O’Leary is waiting for me at the top of Avenue De Rennes, quite possibly the loveliest sounding avenue in Cork, when I pull up one morning earlier this month.
Lights, cameras, stop: New cameras have been added to traffic lights in the city centre in the past few weeks as part of a pilot programme to target drivers who break red lights - and the law.
Getting serious about Shandon: Clocking in at 183 pages, the just-off-the-presses Shandon Integrated Urban Strategy is, as the press release says, “an action-based roadmap for the sustainable and heritage-led regeneration of the Shandon area over the coming years.”
On the issue of time, the grand plan, which consists of 36 actions, essentially boils down to making the historic area more liveable, lovable, easier to get around, and eminently more visitable. It grades those actions across three time frames: short, medium, and long term, with the last one being 10+ years—a considerable length.
A few things stand out: green spaces are in very short supply in Shandon, and the area is stacked with historic buildings such as the Butter Exchange and Weighmaster’s House. For the Weighmaster’s House, the Shandon IUS proposes restoring it to a community hub aligned with New European Bauhaus values—ensuring the project is sustainable, beautiful, accessible, and inclusive. (While the cost is expected to be high, the timeline for completion is short-term, less than three years.)
On the subject of green spaces, the Shandon Strategy proposes using St Anne’s and Dr Mary Hearn Parks and Graveyards as a central green space for the neighbourhood. This is especially important, given that only 12% of the area is green space, and of that, only 4% is publicly accessible.
Cork Luas: The Echo reported this week that the long-delayed preferred route for the Cork Luas will go to public consultation this month. An official launch for the west-to-east line will take place at 11am on Monday, 14 April in City Hall, while a consultation website will go live that day too. A collection of the usual bigwigs and smaller wigs - including Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Transport Minister Darragh O'Brien, and Lord Mayor Dan Boyle - will be there. The project is expected to costsomewhere between €2bn and €3bn; more than €2.5m has been spent on the design stage to date. Consultation will run until 9 June.
Marina Promenade opening: Speaking of bigwigs, Taoiseach Micheál Martin will be in town today to officially open the Marina Promenade and unveil a plaque. After the opening ceremony there will have face-painting, a balloon artist, and outdoor family games on the Promenade near Holland Park. Families welcome.
Cork Fringe launches: the crew behind the inaugural Cork Fringe launched the programme of events this week announcing 20 events across 10 city venues on the weekend of May 9-11. We wrote about Cork Fringe late last year in an interview with festival directors, Daniel Cremin and Ineke Lavers, which you can read here. Cork Fringe host a wide range of performances including theatre, comedy, dance, visual art, music including IN A BAD WAY (Isolde Fenton) and Happy Capital (Tommy Harris), both slated for The Everyman, while theMarina Market becomes home to The Answer, an audio theatre piece exploring “climate anxiety and the commercialisation of self-help.” Full programme here.
TFI Bikes: As Bike Commuting Ireland posted on social media this week, the good news is that the TFI bike network is being expanded to the Marina Promenade, close by Páirc Uí Chaoimh. This is the furthest east the network has ventured from the city centre.
There’s definitely a case for more docking stations at the Marina. It’s also worth noting that sometimes the docking stations go in, but no bikes follow, as with the station on Connaught Avenue that sat idle for years before being removed in 2024. No explanation was ever given for why no bikes arrived, or how much the whole non-operation cost. And yes, we did ask.
Not happy: Newly elected Independent Ireland’s Ken O’Flynn has let the Oireachtas know of its “disregard for the dignity” of his position in long email over the state of his new office in Leinster House.
As Ken Foxe, writing in the Story.ie this week outlined, “Mr O’Flynn said the room he was shown displayed a “lack of professionalism” and needed to be adequately furnished and promptly cleaned “to meet the standards befitting an elected member of this esteemed House.” In a lengthy message to Leinster House management, Mr O’Flynn wrote of being shown an office in an “unacceptable state” with paint cans in one corner, no chairs available and unwanted items left behind by the previous occupants.
He wrote: “The office had clearly not been maintained with the level of care that is expected in an environment representing elected official
Cherry blossoms: All together and at once, comes the blossoming of the cherry trees. You can still catch a few of them in blossom on Pearse Road, in Ballinlough and dotted across the city and county. And here’s folk artist of the year John Spillane sining their praises.
And finally, we had a bit of fun! on Wednesday April 1 on Instagram (see below). Obviously, we were joking. That timeline is ridiculously impossible.
Out +About
🎬 Film director Yousef Alhelou will be in town next week to present his documentary The Phoenix of Gaza, followed by a Q&A with an analysis of the grim situation in Gaza and the West Bank. The Phoenix—filmed weeks before the IDF-led destruction of Gaza following Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel—captures footage of Gaza before much of it was reduced to rubble in the onslaught. The screening and Q&A is being hosted by the Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Tickets and more info here.
Time, date, place: 7pm, Tuesday April 8, the Pavillion, 13 Carey’s Lane
🎶 Ireland’s longest-established string quartet, the ConTempo Quartet, comes to the Triskel this weekend. Founded in Bucharest in 1995 and based in Ireland since 2003, the ‘fabulous foursome’ love to gig: they’ve played 2,000+ concerts across 46 countries. The lunchtime gig will feature music by Mozart, Rhona Clarke and Beethoven. Tickets and more information available here.
Time, date, place: 1pm, Saturday April, The Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin St
🖼️ Cork Lifelong Learning Festival is currently underway, and there are exhibitions to check out across the city libraries as part of it. In Glanmire, there is an exhibition about the history of Stereoviews, with a selection of mid-19th century Stereoviews of Cork City. In Douglas, there is an astrophotography exhibition presented by members of Cork Astronomy Club. In Blarney library, an exhibition features the work of local artist Anne Gabriel. Outside of these, the festival programme is huge and can be checked out here.
Time, date, place: Thursday April 2nd-Wednesday April 9th, all across Cork City.
🎸 Surge are a queer hardcore punk band from Dublin, and they travel to Cork for a gig in Dali. They are supported by alternative duo Hedgling and noisy Louth band Spit. Doors are at 8pm and tickets are available here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Friday April 4, Dali, Lavitt’s Quay, Cork.
🎤 E.W. Harris is an American singer songwriter with origins in the rust belt and the south, but based in Brooklyn. He is currently touring throughout the US, UK and Europe following the release of his latest album Machine Living In Relief, and performs at Levis’ in Ballydehob on Saturday. Tickets are available here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Saturday April 5, Levis’ Corner House, Ballydehob.
🎺 Jazz legend Kamasi Washington had to postpone his sold out Jazz Weekend Opera House gig last year after injuring his back. The show, however, takes place next week, and yes, there are still tickets going. Get them before they’re gone, available here.
Time, date, place: 7pm, Wednesday April 9 Cork Opera House, Emmett Place, Cork.
FYI: If you follow T+D over on Instagram, Kilian published a short monthly gig guide at the start of each month. April’s is up:
That’s it for this week’s Friday View. As always, any tips, comments, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, you can contact us at tripeanddrisheen@substack.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. Have a lovely weekend.
This week on T+D: This week Pádraig checked out Cork’s newest community radio and the crew behind it:
Éist a while
Éist is an online community radio station which aims to bring people together from all walks of life, both here in Cork and beyond, through the ever popular medium of digital radio. The station was launched in Plugd Records on Cornmarket Street in December of last year and is entirely volunteer-led.
Love the idea of a public book moving event. Hundreds of volunteers carrying or rolling books through the streets from one venue to the other- talking in the library will be positively encouraged! Great column again!