The Friday View 10/05
Cork Bike Week is back, posters of pols are everywhere and Cork City Council is on the hunt for a new chief.
Welcome to the Friday View on T+D. Let’s get to it!
SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh has a bike parking problem
In the run up to the Munster Hurling clash between Cork and Clare on April 28, SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh publicised information about getting to and from the stadium asking match goers to be respect the neighbours. All very standard stuff.
Absent from that info on access to the stadium was anything about cycling to the stadium, because as anyone who does cycle to matches or concerts down de Pairc knows there’s more black swans in the Atlantic Pond than there are bicycle parking spaces. The County Board took the option of better to say nothing about cycling. More’s the pity.
Back in June 2018, just ahead of bike week - which takes places next week - Cork Cycling Campaign called on the stadium bosses to install 1,000 bike parking spaces. Given the capacity of the stadium, 45,000, give or take, that would have been a good start.
Those 1,000 parking spaces never arrived, and so what you get at matches and concerts is cyclists parking up their bikes where they can.
For phase two of the Marina, the City Council is installing 35 cycle racks near the training pitch, but again this is not Cork County Board, rather the local authority. As one local resident told me they could double that number and fill it easily on match day.
Tripe + Drisheen contacted Cork County Board this week with a number of questions as to why the stadium is a bike parking desert and what plans, if any, are in store to improve the situation. We also asked for data on number of people who walk and cycle to sell out matches or concerts. We heard nothing back, yet.
On the face of it, it’s an odd one. Every dog and swan on a lead knows that the stadium is a bit of a dose for car parking, but it’s a lot more accessible for walking and cycling to. For a starters, there’s the Greenway which rolls out all the way to Passage West. I cycled to one game last year in which Cork played out a cracking draw with Tipperary. Short of getting the train right up to the stadium, the bike trip is without doubt one of the loveliest ways to get to and from a match, which only makes it all the more puzzling why the County Board are so behind the curve on this one.
I wonder what SuperValu and the Musgraves would make of the Cork GAA’s lack of action on this one?
Big jobs: One person who won’t be around in her present job if the Event Centre is ever started or completed is Cork City Council Chief Executive Anne Doherty. This day last week, the local authority advertised for the role of Chief Exec. Can you manage complex organisations, are you a strategic leader? You just might be for a starting salary of €182k. Deadline to apply May 23.
Meanwhile, up river from City Hall, over at County Hall, the contest to see who will be installed as the permanent Chief Exec of Cork County Council is also playing out. Valerie O’Sullivan was installed as the interim boss late last year. What happens with that result will likely have an impact on the frontrunners to repleace Ms Doherty.
Money well spent: Over in “de paper” this week, Cork City Council arts officer Michelle Carew sat down with arts critic Marc O’Sullivan Vallig to talk about the €670,000 publicly funded public sculpture trail which Pádraig O’Connor memorably asked if it was a load of “ArtBollocks” on T+D. Not memorable enough for O’Sullivan Vallig to highlight in his piece, but he did say that “reaction to the project has been mixed, ranging from appreciation and approval to indifference and disdain.”
Carew was unequivocal in her answer to whether it’s a good investment, telling The Examiner that, “Absolutely yes, I think. You're looking at five artworks, or six actually, as we’ve already commissioned two for Triskel Christchurch. I think when you break that down, that actually does represent a very, very good investment.
But even to move away from monetary terms, I think the quality of the work that has been created, the artists that we've been able to engage, and the way in which we have been able to really forefront contemporary arts practice in Cork city centre, I think that's all excellent value.
We're really pleased to have been 100% funded by Fáilte Ireland. That's a real mark of innovation on their part. I think they're recognising the benefits of cultural tourism, that people want to visit cities that have something unique about them.”
The pieces will be up for five years and then forever more in our memories. Or not.
Poster ready: Local and European pols were out on a poster blitz this week. For many people in Cork it will be the first time they’ll have seen their local councillor or rep. Do they make a difference, the posters that is? I suppose we shall see. Voting is on June 7 and you can check the register here.
Direct action: Officials at University College Cork no doubt were looking at the direct action that was unfolding on campus at Trinity College last week wondering how the students successful protest might there might inspire students here. And while the Leeside campus doesn’t have a Book of Kells, there has been protest on campus over Israel’s unrelenting destruction of Gaza in which nearly 35,000 people have been killed- including around 14,500 children - killed since the Hamas attack on Isreal on October 7 in which more than 1,100 were slaughtered people were slaughtered in Israel.
This week, UCC announced that it was in talked with UCC Students’ Union on issues raised regarding the university’s position on the conflict in Gaza. The University said it had examined where its money is invested and they are now in the process of divesting from one Israeli financial institution and looking to how it can support displaced Palestinian students. Full statement here. Meanwhile, over at MTU, the last we heard of any protest was over the removal of car parking spaces.
On the banks: Work is progressing on the left bank of the collapsed wall just next to the South Gate Bridge. As Ellie O’Byrne wrote previously on T+D the owner of “Park It Here" car park was served with a derelict sites notice back in 2022. Good to see a fix, finally.
Cork Bike Week: The annual two wheel bonanza kicks off tomorrow, May 11 and runs up until May 19. There are 110 schools involved this year, and as usual a huge range of events including cycle tours of the city and county, free bike maintenance workshops and much, much else. It’s an inter agency affair brining Cork Sports Partnership, Cork City Council and Cork County Council together, as well as lots of cycling enthusiasts. They’ve a great website detailing the events for each day which you can peruse here.
Lovely, but unused: Speaking of bike parking, sorry, here we go again, but the bike lockers on South Mall and St Patrick’s Street haven’t been up to much, apart form a place to dump rubbish?
Out + About
The Guilteens are a four-piece band from Cork city consisting of vocalist Finn Sedas, bassist Tomás O’Brien, guitarist and trumpeter Cathal Nally and drummer Shane Murphy. They gig at Plugd this Saturday, with support from NudyBoyNature, the music project of local drummer Jim Christie. Tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Saturday May 11, Plugd, Cornmarket Street, Cork.
Jinx Lennon is punk musician and poet from Dundalk, who sings in a rap style with a heavy Dundalk accent. He plays in Fred Zeppelin’s tonight, with support from Wasps vs Humans a local punk poet, based in London, who was originally a playwright. Tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Friday May 10, Fred Zeppelin’s, Parliament Street, Cork.
Lewis Barfoot is a folk artist who blends ethereal, evocative vocals with original compositions and reinventions of traditional songs, and she plays in The Roundy on Wednesday. Check out this interview she did with Ellie for T+D in January 2022, explaining her music and background. Tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 7:30pm, Wednesday May 15, The Roundy, Castle Street, Cork.
Backwater Artists present two exhibitions through the month of May. Closing of the Bones is a 16mm film installation by Claire Murphy, exploring childbirth and embracing the women’s narrative. Drawn Works brings together the work of backwater members’ drawings, and includes pieces by Anna Barden, Oisin Burke, Stephen Doyle, Deirdre Frost, Sean Hanrahan, Joseph Heffernan, Orla O’Byrne and Ciara Rodgers. It runs until late August.
Time, date, place: Friday May 3-Friday May 31, Studio 12, Wandesford Quay, Cork.
Talamh agus Spéir is an exhibition by couple Keith and Kira O’Brien at the Blackwater Artists Makers Gallery in Fermoy. It combines Keith’s colourful paintings with Kira’s ceramics. If you’re around North Cork, give it a nose!
Time, date, place: Saturday April 6-Friday May 31, Blackwater Artists Makers Gallery, McCurtain Street, Fermoy.
Mockie Ah drag house are hosting an alternative night to the Eurovision on Saturday. Queens for Palestine is a massive cabaret with fifteen acts, ranging from drag, burlesque and music, from across the country, followed by Mockie Ah DJs and Queens. All profits are going to UNRWA and the Palestinian Red Crescent. Tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 7:30pm, Saturday May 11, The Pavilion, Carey’s Lane, Cork.
Film of the Week: The Days of Trees is a feature documentary, directed by Alan Gilsenan. The film documents Gilsenan’s friend and colleague Tomás, as he unearths startling childhood happenings which had somehow eluded his memory. The film deals with themes of clerical abuse which had taken taken place in the 1960s, by Christian Brothers. More information and tickets here.
Time, date, place: 2pm, Sunday May 12, 6pm, Monday May 13-Wednesday May 15, Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street, Cork.
Crawford Art College grad Joanne Hackett is taking over the old apple market on the bottom of Barrack Street all this weekend with an exhibition of her paintings. The show will be run from 12-5pm Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Time, date, place: 12pm-5pm, May 10 - May 12, the old apple market next to Osho, Barrack St, Cork
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 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.