The Friday View 14/04
Photos from our Bridges of Cork competition, plus hiring begins for a nighttime economy advisor for Cork City Council. Fun times ahead!
Good morning and welcome to the Friday View on Tripe + Drisheen.
First up, another entry from our Bridges of Cork photo competition, which we ran last month. Joe Healy, the photographer of Daly’s Bridge below, will be well-known to many from his Twitter account documenting Cork in all its glory during the 80s and 90s. Joe writes that he took this photo of the 'Shakey Bridge' in the mid-1980s: 'I was lucky that the small terrier trotted into the picture just as I was about to take it.' For all the camera buffs, as far as he can recall, he was using Fuji slide film and a Canon A1 camera.
We'll be highlighting some of the entries in each Friday View newsletter for the month of April, and we'll announce the winner and runner-up on the last Friday of the month
News in brief
Critical numbers: At Monday night's Cirk City Council meeting, which focused largely on the ongoing housing crisis and the controversial ending of the eviction ban, Councillor Kenneth Collins (Sinn Féin) asked the Council Executive (CE) for a breakdown of emergency accommodation that the council has access to. Numbers were hotly contested at that meeting as many, but not all, councillors went off on political point-scoring tangents, and in some cases, rants.
The City Council has a total of 47 emergency accommodation “units”, made up of single (10), double (9), triple (3) and family rooms (5) as well as, large space (6) and extra large space rooms (1).
The City Council has a further reserve of 13 units of “family space” for four-six occupants. The total number of emergency beds stands at 154.
According to the Dept of Housing figures, in the final week of February of this year 528 people in Cork City and County accessed emergency accommodation, one month prior to the lifting of the eviction ban.
Climate action: Today, April 14, Cork City Council will launch the Community Climate Action Fund to support community organisations in tackling the climate crisis. The fund, which is backed by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications to the tune of €840,000, will offer grants to non-profit community-based organisations focusing on five themes: home and energy, travel, food and waste, shopping and recycling, and local environmental management and biodiversity.
The fund is part of the City Council's efforts to become a climate-neutral city by 2030. Small grants of up to €20,000, medium grants between €20,000 and €50,000, and larger grants between €50,000 and €100,000 will be available.
The application process, consisting of two separate strands - Strand 1 and Strand 1A - opens today. The City Council's Climate Action Union will hold two free information sessions to provide more details about the application process and answer questions.
The first session will be an in-person event at the UCC Centre for Executive Education at Lapps Quay, Cork, on Wednesday, April 19, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. Booking via Eventbrite here. There will also be an online session on Thursday April 20 from 6:30pm - 8:30pm. Booking via Eventbrite here.
Conservation and restoration: Nearly €950,000 in funding has been allocated to Cork City and County Councils for the restoration, renovation, and conservation of a number of historic buildings and landmarks across the city and county.
The funding, via The Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage, is paid out in two streams: the Built Heritage Investment Scheme (BHIS) and Historic Structures Fund (HSF) to local authorities across Ireland.
Bantry House has been allocated €200,000 for "urgent repair works to the roof and parapet walls of the west loggia" which overlooks the garden. Mallow Castle Granary Buildings will receive €80,000, also via the HSF, for roof and chimney work. In the city, the former Mansion House at Mercy University Hospital has been allocated €200,000 for the conservation and repair of the external envelope of the building.
Under the BHIS, Cork County Council will receive funding of €169,154 for 17 projects, €42,753 specifically for conservation works of five thatched buildings located in Charleville, Glanworth, Kanturk, Killeagh, and Mitchelstown. The remaining €126,401 will be used to fund conservation and repair works in 12 other sites, including Chapel Hill Art School in Macroom, which will receive €14,000 for external joinery repair.
Under the same scheme, Cork City Council was awarded a total of €152,000, also for 17 projects. €4,000 was awarded to Blarney Castle for work on the walls of its Walled Garden, €8,000 to Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Shanakiel, and €10,000 to MTU Gallery, Crawford College of Art & Design.
You can listen back to our interview with artist Bernadette Tuite and sculptor John McCormack about their project to turn a former convent in Macroom into Chapel Hill School of Art.
Fun times: Pat yourself on the back if you had predicted that this year Cork City Council would hire a full-time nighttime economy advisor, well, full-time for two years. Cork city, along with Dublin, Limerick, Galway, Kilkenny, Drogheda, Sligo, Buncrana, and Longford, will all have nighttime economy advisors under a new scheme set out last year by Catherine Martin, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media.
Different European cities call them different things: night mayors, night czars, but Ireland is following Manchester’s lead where, since 2018, they appointed a nighttime economy advisor.
So what will he or she or they be doing in Cork city? Top line, the city wants to offer more for families and visitors, beyond the arguably narrow mix of pub-related activities. The nighttime economy advisor will be responsible for drumming up ideas, establishing committees, collecting data and all those other good things to help make Cork city more appealing to all age groups and offer a broader range of things to do when the night comes.
Come the better weather, and it better come, we shall start seeing groups of young people once again converging at the bottom of Grand Parade near the River Lee. Perhaps this cohort might be a good place to go for inspiration and ideas as to how to open up the nighttime economy. Also, keeping galleries and other cultural institutions open later at night, or on certain nights is another easy win. It shall be interesting to see what our new nighttime czar brings to the table or street.
The application process is now open and you can view the full jobs specs and details here. Closes April 28
Vacancy rates: Commercial real estate company Cushman & Wakefield released its property report for the first three months of 2023 for Cork city. The top line is that the vacancy rate in the commercial sector stands at just over 12% at the end of March. According to Cushman & Wakefield: “Take-up in the Cork market was relatively muted in Q1 with just under 4,000 square metres of space occupied in the period.”
The picture in the industrial sector is quite different: demand is up, as are rent prices, and the vacancy rate is down to 2.3%. According to Cushman & Wakefield, “approximately 38,000 square metres are under construction in Cork and due for delivery between now and early 2024. Although such is the demand for modern stock, over half of that is already pre-let.”
Future politicians: Delegates from the European Youth Parliament (EYP) Ireland arrived in town earlier this week for the 26th national conference, held at MTU and the College of Commerce. The conference was moved from Dublin to Cork due to the high cost of conducting business in the capital. Although most delegates come from secondary schools across Ireland (drawn from fourth to sixth year), there were roughly a dozen overseas delegates in Cork for the national conference.
The EYP comprises a network of nearly 40 European associations and organizations, with thousands of young people actively involved in a voluntary capacity to gain more knowledge about the political issues affecting Europe.
Mangan's Clock - an update: Cork City Council told Tripe+Drisheen that Mangan's Clock, situated at the top of St. Patrick's Street near Merchant's Quay, is exptected to up and running by the end of April. It's only a matter of time, so!
Bridges of Cork photo comp: Ballineen Bridge by Rose Foley
Out + About
📚Cork World Book Fest returns to the city with plenty to offer for readers of all ages. The City Library on Grand Parade is the main location for most of the talks and events, along with the Triskel Arts Centre, just up the road. The Book Fest begins tomorrow, April 15th, with a reading from Kinsale teacher Leona Forde from her new book "Milly McCarthy is a Complete Catastrophe" at the City Library on Grand Parade at 1 pm. Admission is free. For the full run-down of events for the festival visit the Book Fest website here.
Time, date, place: April 18-23, Cork City Library and Triskel Arts Centre, Grand Parade
🌳Doneraile Estate reopened at the end of March for the summer season. The "Big House" and estate are located on the banks of the Awbeg river. The grounds are open daily from 8 am to 8 pm. If you're heading there with kids, there's a children's tree trail that details some of the beautiful trees on the grounds. YYou can download that here.. Tickets for Doneraile House, which opens until 4 pm daily, can be purchased at the estate. More information here.
Time, date, place: Doneraile Estate, Doneraile, Co. Cork, P51 XR66.
🎭The Cork Shakespearean Company, better known as The Loft, has just two nights remaining for their staging of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. The Loft has been performing the Bard's works on stage for 99 years. A Midsummer Night's Dream, one of Shakespeare's most famous works, is a story of "love and disorder, fairies and Amazons, small mix-ups and big Bottoms." Directed by Luke Barry. Tickets and more information here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, until April 15, Cork Arts Theatre, Carroll's Quay
This week on T+D:
On Tuesday, we reported on the news from a Cork Council meeting where locals and elected councillors objected to Cork County Council's plans to erect barriers at Keelbeg Old Pier, despite decades of structural warnings.
On Wednesday, we reported on another council meeting, this time from the City Council, where councillors debated at length about the housing crisis in the city. The full report is below:
That’s it for this week’s Friday View. We’ll be back tomorrow with a look at some of the events on for Cork World Book Fest in our Saturday Arts+Culture newsletter. 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.