The Friday View 05/05
Tough times for Cork City FC and the podcasters who report on them; Cllr Fiona Ryan is stepping down and Cork Midsummer Festival and Sounds from a Safe Harbour announce their line-ups.
Hello and welcome to The Friday View.
Firstly, apologies, it’s been a bit of a slower week on the news front from T+D, not that it was a slow news week. There’s always news, but output this week was less than usual. There are a few reasons for that: for the time being, I'll be doing most of the writing and reporting here. We'll still be publishing stories from freelancers, and there are commissions underway.
However, with Tripe, we’ve succeeded by reporting on stories that are underreported or overlooked. Often that means showing up at bird sanctuaries, community gardens, people's homes, and that takes time. This week, I was following up on a story about planning and dereliction, and based on a conversation, the answers to my questions about a particular city centre building are going to take more time to come through.
Likewise, an interview for a transport story was canceled and had to be rescheduled. While it's frustrating, that’s also par for the course in journalism. People have work and lives to attend to. In fact, I'm always surprised and appreciative of how much time (most) people are willing to make for journalists. Next week, we’ll be back to a fuller, bigger schedule. Thanks for your understanding.
In the meantime, here's a meaty Friday View for your perusal.
News in brief
A bridge with no name. Yet. Submissions for naming the new pedestrian and cycle bridge over the N40 connecting Tramore Valley Park to Grange and Frankfield closed last week. However, a few readers contacted us regarding how the City Council will ultimately decide on a name. The short answer is, we don’t know. However, I did ask the City Council this week for more information on the process. Is there a committee? Is the name pulled out of a hat? Is it weighted towards the name that has the most entries? As soon as I find out, I will update.
Three likely contenders are: Black Ash Bridge, Vernon Mount Bridge and “On the Tobar”, which is Traveller Cant for "On the Road". As Cork Traveller Women's Network wrote in a tweet, the name acknowledges the important Traveller heritage of the area around Tramore Valley Park, and if chosen, it would be the first official Traveller Cant place name in Cork city.
The other two names also signify links to the location of the new bridge: Vernon Mount is the derelict fire-damaged ‘Big House’ which looks down on Tramore Valley Park, and Black Ash directly links to the area around the bridge. Naturally, there will have been lots of other submissions, and it’s possible the City Council will make available information about the number and details of the submissions, as well as the process of choosing on
Changes at council: People Before Profit/Solidarity and Socialist Party Councillor Fiona Ryan announced her intention to resign her council seat yesterday, May 4. Cllr Ryan said that multiple surgeries as well as a difficult pregnancy and the realities of parenting a young baby have all presented a real challenge to her ability to fulfill her council duties in the manner she wished. She has represented the city’s North-West Ward for the past seven years and has been a formidable and vocal presence in council chambers, especially in debates with councillors from the coalition parties.
In her statement to the press, Cllr Ryan said: “Now more than ever, working-class people are dealing with the consequences of a housing catastrophe, a cost of living crisis and crumbling public services, while the government defends the interests of big business and the super-rich at our expense. We badly need a fightback against these conditions, and fighting socialist representation in councils and the Dáil can play a very important role in that.”
A process is underway to decide on a candidate for co-option over the coming weeks
Dead dog: BrewDog Cork ceased trading on Washington Street this week just nine months after it opened. The UK pub franchise was operated by Westside Leisure Group, a local outfit, which also runs the Brog on Oliver Plunkett Street as well as Alibi, just doors away from BrewDog. The Cork company told staff on the Monday morning of the Bank Holiday weekend they were shutting up shop. Did they bite off more than they could chew with BrewDog Cork? That’s likely. Westside’s exit comes as students from nearby UCC head into exam season with many exiting the city there afterwards. What’s next for the substantial premise? BrewDog UK told CorkBeo it’s looking to open the doors “as soon as possible”.
Who doesn’t love the Eurovision? Sticking with Washington Street, Green MEP Grace O’Sullivan is hosting a Eurovision watch party at her new headquarters on Washington Street next weekend (May 13). A fan of all things Euro, the Waterford politician for Ireland South moved into the Washington Street premises earlier this year. As of publishing the FV newsletter, there were still tickets available for the free, hours-long event. There will also be a raffle on the night, which includes a prize for a trip for two to Brussels. Clearly, Grace is intent on spreading the Euro love Tickets and more information here.
BusConnects for Cork Airport: Cork Airport's passenger numbers are soaring, with the airport announcing this week that it expects 2.6 million passengers to pass through its doors in 2023. The "small airport with a big heart" likes to boast that it's the best-connected airport in Munster, and while that may be true for flight connections, public transport connections to the airport are far more limited.
This past April, 250,030 passengers traveled through Cork Airport, a 19% increase compared to April 2019 (pre-Covid). However, the airport is served by two Bus Éireann services. While the bus routes from the airport connect to Parnell Place bus station and Kent Station (train) in the city centre, there are only two services per hour, and quite often the departure times are closer together than they are further apart. Moreover, the only direct service to West Cork from the airport terminates at Kinsale.
To return to the city centre service. To give you a flavour: the 225 service headed in the direction of Kent Station leaves the airport at 4:12pm, while the city bound 226 leaves at 4:27pm, and also terminates at Kent Station. The next city-centre bound bus from the airport is nearly 45 minutes later. And all this depends on buses arriving and departing on time.
Earlier this year, the NTA conducted a survey of passengers at the airport soliciting how they traveled to and from Cork Airport. Could this lead to more bus services to and from the airport, and direct links to West Cork, beyond Kinsale?
Greenway: On Friday, April 28th, Cork City Council officially opened Phase 1 of the Cork City to Passage West Greenway. An Tánaiste Micheál Martin, Lord Mayor Deirdre Forde, and Council leader Ann Doherty were all in attendance on the day (see photo above). The 3km greenway connects with the Marina and offers another off-road route in and out of the city. I cycled the former railway line turned greenway before the launch, and it's a lovely route that passes through the former railway station at Blackrock and under the existing stone bridges.
On the opening day, none of the aforementioned officials took to a bike to road test the new route, but they did try out the slides. No doubt there'll be opportunities to cycle the route before Phase 2 and 3 of the greenway are completed. Construction is expected to start later this year on the extension. Also newly opened are the new "snakes and ladder" slides, located just off the Marina towards the Blackrock end.
Does it get worse before it gets better? Cork City FC suffered a 5-0 defeat to Bohemians at the start of the week. Before the week was over, they had also lost their manager, Colin Healy, who quit hours after Liam Buckley was appointed as Sporting Director at the club. To say it’s been a tough season for the Leesiders is putting a brave face on it. The team is currently one place off the bottom and takes on St Patrick’s Athletic in Turner’s Cross tonight. As coincidence would have it, St Pat’s also lost their manager this week.
Enter (or exit) The Other Three Amigos. The Cork City-focused podcasters, who have FAI accreditation, were told this week by management at Cork City that they would have their media accreditation withdrawn for tonight’s match. Why? Well, they tweeted the news of Colin Healy’s departure before the club had officially put the news out. And so they’ve been hit with a one-match ban, for now. You would think City management would have bigger problems to focus on besides handing out red cards to a podcast for breaking news?
And finally, The Four Faced Liar, a new literary journal which launched late last year in Cork city, is well on its way to a second edition. Submissions closed at the end of last month, and Patrick Holloway, one of the four editors on FFL, told me that they received over 1,200 submissions over a two-week period across poetry, short stories, translation, flash fiction, and visual art. The submission period this time around was shorter, and they received more than the first time out. Patrick said they hope to have all responses out within 12 weeks, and then "the fun part starts of organizing the layout and cover art, etc."
As to when we might see FFL two, the editorial team is aiming for September. "It's so rewarding to know people enjoyed issue one and trust us with their work for issue 2," Patrick said.
Tweet of the week:
Click on the link here to watch the “feeding frenzy” captured in West Cork earlier this week by Into the wild Ireland. An Incredible show off the coast of Cork.
Out + About
Piano in the gallery: The music at midday free concert series continues at the Crawford Art Gallery this Sunday and will feature Ava O'Hare and Declan Murphy, two final-year mustic students at MTU. The pair will present a selection of colourful piano masterpieces. Free admission.
Time, date, place: 12pm, Sunday May 7, Crawford Art Gallery, Emmet Place.
Show time in St Luke’s: Cork-based writer and director Sadhbh Moriarty has collaborated with Lidija Sola, a Croatian contemporary circus artist and co-founder of Tricycle Trauma, for a one-night-only production of "(Un)Holy Blood" at Live at St Luke's this weekend. The location is apt for a "transdisciplinary performance highlighting the pitfalls of organised religion and challenging the ways we engage in feminism". (Un)Holy Blood is a subversive blend of contemporary circus, theatre, dance, and visual art. Tickets and more information here.
Time, date, place: 9pm, Saturday May 6, Live at st Lukes, Summerhill North.
Clean and green: The Douglas Street Business Association is set to hold its annual 'Clean and Green' event this Saturday, where they will gather to pick up litter, plant new flora, and paint various areas on Douglas Street and its adjacent streets. Douglas Street is also the location of Cork City's first-ever "parklet," which was installed outside the Cork Flower Studio at the Capwell end of the street in 2019. The meeting point for the event is the garden at Rutland Square on White Street, and participants are advised to bring gloves if they have any. Refreshments will be provided, and everyone is welcome to join in.
Time, date, place: 11am - 3pm, Saturday May 6, meeting at Rutland Square.
The Marina tour: If you ever tune into City Council meetings, invariably you’ll be treated to a history lesson from Cllr Kieran McCarthy. This Saturday, he’ll be giving a free walking history tour of the Marina, detailed how it got its name and came to be, as well as highlight some of the forgotten artefacts on the mostly pedestrianised promenade. It lasts about two hours and no booking is required.
Time, date, place: 2pm, Saturday May 6, meeting at Shandon Boat Club
"Tartuffe," meaning hypocrite or imposter, is a great word that you don't hear enough of. It's also the name of the central character in Molière's centuries-old eponymous dramatic comedy. The Abbey Theatre brings a new version of Molière's Tartuffe by Frank McGuinness and directed by Caitríona McLaughlin to Cork Opera House all next week. Tartuffe is a chancer who speaks for the ages. For the Abbey, McGuinness has given the 17th century classic an audacious contemporary makeover in a tale of deception versus the truth. Tickets and more information here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, May 9-13, Cork Opera House
For your calendar:
This week, both Sounds from a Safe Harbour and Cork Midsummer Festival announced lineup details of their upcoming festivals.
The Midsummer festival, which runs from June 14-25, is packed to the rafters. In the mix is Beckett’s “Happy Days,” featuring Siobhán McSweeney, “Sun & Sea” will be performed on a “beach” in Cork City Hall while The 12 Ensemble will perform Max Richter’s re-invention of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”, alongside his acclaimed "On the Nature of Daylight" with violinist Eloisa-Fleur Thom. It’s a huge programme. Full details and ticketing here.
Later in the summer, Sounds from a Safe Harbour is back with a few big names including Feist and Wilco. The festival, which takes place at Cork Opera House from September 7-10, will also feature a European premiere of Bonny Light Horseman with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Ye Vagabonds Lighthouse Constellations.. More information here.
This week on T+D
Earlier in the week, we profiled Wildfire Guitar Club who are in the middle of a three-night run of gigs at the Cork Arts Theatre, with all proceeds going to Pieta House.
That’s it for this week’s Friday View. Any tips, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, you can contact us via our About page here. 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.
