The Friday View 14/06
Midsummer, Cork Summer Show and Cruinniú na nÓg are all rolled into one weekend. Cork GAA goes to Offaly and pity the poor utility poles, they won't be poster-less for long
Calling it! The election posters have barely come down off the weary utility poles but they will be back up again in no time, or by Halloween, as it is widely predicted (by every dog on the street and fool on a bar stool). For that’s when S&M will opt for a Halloween election preceded by a “giveaway” September budget (aren’t they all?). The thinking is, Sinn Féin had an election performance to forget, and the two biggest parties in the country are still exactly that, so with a sweet autumnal budget, the next five years are FF/FG’s for the taking if they go this side of Christmas. Would you bet against them?
It’s worth bearing in mind, though, that nothing of note has changed. We still have record homelessness, endemic problems in housing and healthcare, and a public transport system that’s generally not fit for the 15th century. But politics is all about optics. The coalition parties will point out that they are the ones to keep momentum going and keep the ship steady.
If the election that just passed told us anything, at least about the voters who turned out, it’s that the status quo is favourable to the unknown. That also goes for candidates on the far right who, while they picked up votes, by and large did not pick up seats. In modern Ireland, it would seem that the centre can hold, and that centre is a mix of conservatism and mediocrity.
What shall October or November reveal?
News in brief:
“Sterilised”: On Sunday, May 9, Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) were alerted to a major fish kill on the River Alllow, in north Cork. The river, which flows into the Blackwater, runs through a special conservation zone near Freemount. Initial counts put the number of dead fish at around 5,000. According to IFI, among the species of fish discovered dead include juvenile Atlantic salmon, brown trout, lamprey, eel, stone loach, roach, and dace.
An IFI director told RTÉ that the river was effectively “sterilised”, for roughly about 4km or 5km. He also told the broadcaster that the IFI had a fairly good idea of the cause. As well as the IFI’s investigation, Uisce Éireann, which has a water-treatment plant in Freemount near the Allow, told RTÉ News, that it is investigating a reported spillage at the plant.
NKOTB: One of the new faces on Cork City Council is Independent Cllr Albert Deasy who was elected in the city’s South West ward (running on a platform of common sense). A relative late-comer to local politics, Deasy 65, has been director of several companies including Deasy Naughton. The other director in that company was his wife Ann Naughton. Naughton is listed as a director of Irish Vaccination Awareness whose aim is to “present fuller information on vaccinations than is currently done by the HSE” according to its Facebook page. While not prolific on social media, one Facebook account linked to Deasy does have a post linking to a survey on immigration hosted on Gript. Meanwhile, this week on another Facebook account Deasy congratulated his daugher-in-law for becoming an Irish citizen.
Silver shining: A huge congrats to Bandon A.C. sprinter Phil Healy from Ballineen and all the athletes on the women’s 4 X 400m who took silver in the European championships which just finished up this week. Healy, 29, has been round the block and ran one of the races of her career as she took the baton from a massive run from Rhasidat Adeleke and passed it on to Sharlene Mawdsley in Rome on Wednesday night. It’s the first major piece of silverware for Healy and it’s a race that will rank alongside her mammoth run eight years ago when she came back from the “depths of hell” to win gold for UCC.
Art spaces: Funding of €6 million is to be provided to deliver artist workspaces across the country it was announced this week. This complements the Basic Income for the Arts pilot scheme which gives a basic income payment of €325 a week to 2000 eligible artists. That was rolled out in 2022 and runs until 2025. Many artists and craft workers we have interviewed over the years in Cork have all told us the same thing: studio space is impossible to find in the city. Could “meanwhile” use move the dial. Cork City Council, which will receive €300k under the new scheme, certainly has a few buildings on its books. Could they become studio spaces?
Double header: Half of Cork will be in Tullamore this Saturday as Cork continue their run for one (don’t mention the double just yet). The hurlers meet Offaly, while the footballers meet Tyrone. Neither of them will be on RTE. But never mind that, for this week GAA President Jarlath Burns told The Echo that were it not for GAAGO, the people of Cork might not have seen any match.
“I completely understand [their frustration] but you have to remember that were it not for GAAGO, those games would not be broadcast at all.” Self and serving come to mind.
Out + About
The one-of-a-kind street theatre company Kamchàtka return to Cork for Midsummer with their acclaimed and anarchic performance after an iconic debut in 2018. Seven characters lost in the city, each carrying their own suitcase. Are they simply passers-by, or immigrants to this city? Naïve but curious and wearing their hearts on their sleeves, they interact with passing citizens to interrupt and disrupt what we may otherwise take for granted
Time, date, place: 2pm (for 45 mins), Saturday June 16, St Patrick’s Street
9:57 (Sunset). This night of electronic music and dancing starts at, yes you guessed it, three minutes to 10 p.m., or sunset. It’s a mash up over four nights and two weekends and there’s everything from the psychedelic, free-form, and spiritually-charged dub- dance music of Holy Tongue to psychedelic, free-form, and spiritually-charged dub- dance music of Holy Tongue. Tickets and info here.
Contemporary dance performed on the street by two dancers, moving through the different but universal stages of life.
‘Rock the Block’. In Knocknaheeny, for Cruinniú na nÓg, they’re staging an epic full day festival of youth music-making, workshops, sessions, performances, food, face-painting and more. ‘Rock the Block’ features seisúins, performances and discussions and it’s all aimed at young people in the wonderful Kabin Studio.
Time, date, place: 11am - 6pm, June 15, The Kabin Studio, Harbour View Road, Holyhill
Swap ya! Cork Clothes Swap is back again this Saturday in St Peter’s for their monthly meet. You can swap up to a maximum of five items (men and women’s clothes only in good condition). More information here.
Time, date, place: 11am -1pm, Saturday, June 15, St Peter’s North Main Street
Best in Summer Show: The Munster Agricultural Society’s big event of the year returns to Curaheen this weekend with everything from tractors to ponies and best in show heifers and everything between. The 208 bus route will be extended to run right up to the gate. All you need to know here.
Time, date, place: Saturday 15 and Sunday 16, Cork Showgrounds, Curaheen
That’s it for this week’s Friday View.
Any tips, comments, 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.
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