The Friday View 15/11
☕️ The Christmas lights will be switched on tonight in the city centre, the Kino has a new mural courtesy of Boots and a motion to bring Trump and friends to Cork goes nowhere.
Good morning and welcome to the Friday View on Tripe + Drisheen. Let’s get to it.
Budget talks: Councillors at this week’s monthly City Council meeting decided to hold off from voting on the Council’s 2025 budget until next month. Naturally, this led to much huffing and puffing. As The Echo reported, Fianna Fáil’s Sean Martin, chair of the Local authority's finance committee, proposed that the budget be postponed “due to the upcoming election” until December 4. A vote ensued to postpone which was carried by 20 to eight votes. They’ll be back to chamber then to debate whether a contentious rate hike will be passed along with the budget.
Motions/Notions: One motion that caught our eye was from newly-elected Councillor Albert Deasy (Independent) who failed to get any backing for his invitation of President-elect Donald Trump and his one-time adversary Robert F. Kennedy to come to Cork. In his motion Deasy said “the invitation is crucial due to the significant number of American multinational corporations based in Cork.”
His fellow councillors, however, failed to appreciate just how crucial it was, with Cllr Des Cahill (FG) calling the motion “bizarre”. Cllr Laura Harmon (Labour) aimed lower with her motion seeking meetings with the current US Ambassador to Ireland, as well as one with President-elect Trump’s pick. Who knows, that might turn out to be RFK? Stranger things have happened.
Boots X Kino: The once upon-a-time Kino cinema on Washington Street has long given its prominent street-facing wall over to artists to showcase their chops. The likes of Togher native and London-based Fin DAC as well as Dublin-based Maser have both painted the wall. A new mural went up last week, but it’s a change of direction as the Kino owners have gone all in with Boots, the multinational chemist to advertise their shampoos and body washes proving once again that everything has a price, including the wall of the Kino. The advertising line, painted in big letters, is somewhat ironic given what’s come before on the wall: Make more room for beauty.
Could the Kino’s move inspire other wall owners to cash in (and is there byelaws which could hold things up)? That’s surely what the City Council Arts Officer and Ardú, the organisers behind the street art festival that have brought Conor Harrington, Aches and many more to Leeside, will be wondering?
Construction updates: In reply to a question from Cllr Kieran McCarthy, the City Council said that builders are about a third of the way through the plan to revamp Bishop Lucey Park. The overall construction programme is to take 18 months and the park is on schedule for reopening to the public in late 2025 the Council said in its reply.
Meanwhile, Cllr Peter Horgan (Labour) asked the new City Council boss to request a presentation from the Dept of Housing to Councillors about what’s (not) going at the Event Centre. According to Brian Geaney, Assistant Chief Executive, a new board is being drawn up and with its new terms of reference, which should be in place by the end of the week. The wait goes on.
A nighttime plan: So read the first line of the press release from City Hall this week, once again proving that press releases never fail to undersell.
Running to a respectable 30 pages, the strategy contains much that would be great—if it ever comes to pass. And who knows, just like President Trump visiting Cork with RFK in tow, it might. Then again…
"Encourage," "examine," and "explore" are some of the words doing heavy lifting throughout the strategy. The document sets out how the City might “examine the possibility of a late-night event for Cork on a Fork” and “explore the demand for non-alcohol events/venues in the city." Solid recommendations, if a little uninspiring. Better is the idea to “develop late-night events at the libraries for community engagement.” Transforming the city’s night-time activities is a tall order, but a plan is better than no plan.
As the strategy sets out, culture is one area that needs much work, so too does transport (“the goal is to create interconnectivity between public transport, on-demand services, and ‘active’ modes of transport, such as cycling and walking, 24-hours a day), safety and accessibility. The hard part comes next. The full strategy is available to read here.
Dereliction clinics: The City Council will hold three drop-in informations sessions over the coming weeks to advise people how they can avail of the vacant and derelict housing grants. Funding of up to €50,000 is available for vacant properties while derelict properties can qualify for up to €70,000, offered through the Croí Cónaithe Vacant Homes grant set up by the Dept of Housing. City Council staff will be on hand to advise about:
Incentives available for property re-use
Queries on planning
Queries on ownership issues
Any other vacancy or dereliction queries
Time, date, place: Wednesday, November 20, 11am to 1pm, Douglas Library, Douglas Village Shopping Centre, Douglas, Cork T12 HDY2
Wednesday, November 27, 11am to 1pm, Frank O'Connor Library, Old Youghal Road, Mayfield, Cork T23 E651
Friday, December 6, 11am to 1pm, Cork City Library, 57-61 Grand Parade, Cork T12NT99
Out + About
Christmas parade: The Barrack Street band will lead out the Christmas parade tonight (officially called Corkmas Parade meh) for the turning on of the Christmas lights (or the Corkmas lights) at 6:30pm. The parade begins on North Main Street, proceeding to Washington Street and the Grand Parade, before heading to St. Patrick’s Street where the main parade will finish. Santa and his friends will continue to MacCurtain Street before returning to the North Pole.
There’s a great supporting cast including the Montfort College of Performing Arts, Joan Denise Moriarty School of Dance, the Cork Butter Exchange Band will take part in the Christmas Parade, students from Strawberry Hill National School will carry lanterns which they have made with Cork Community and arts organisation LUXe will create a Winter Fairy Tale procession that will travel through the streets of Cork.
Time, date, place: 6:30pm, Friday November 15, starts on North Main Street
Sherkin Islanders will host their annual Sherkin Island Christmas Craft Fair in the Community Hall this coming weekend. Entry is free and this year they're adding a second date. What’s on offer? Hand-made items including paper craft, handmade jewellery, crochet, art, hand-made cards and baubles, as well as festive baked goods. The island is ten minutes by ferry from Baltimore, and for those who want to make a day trip of it, the Jolly Roger is open for grub. The fair is supported by Cork County Council’s Creative Places West Cork Island.
Time, date, place: 12pm - 5pm, Saturday, November 16 and Sunday, November 17, Sherkin Island Community Centre.
The Cork International Film Festival continues for it’s second week running, with screenings in The Everyman, The Triskel and The Arc Cinema. There’s plenty of international flavour to the festival, and this evening, French documentary The Story of Souleymane screens at the Arc. The film documents two days in the life of Souleymane, an undocumented Guinean migrant who works as a delivery man in Paris. Tickets are available here. On Saturday, the director Carmel Winters presents a personal essay, The Art of Loss, which reflects on aging and bereavement. Screening at the Triskel and followed by a Q&A, tickets are available here. Later on Saturday at The Arc, Catalan film The Imminent Age tells the story of an 18-year-old who has to face the decision of whether or not to put his grandmother in a home. Directed by a collective of young filmmakers, tickets are available here. On Sunday, at The Arc, there is a screening of The Belle From Gaza, a French documentary about several transgender Palestinian women living in Tel Aviv. Tickets for that are available here. The Brutalist is an American film telling the story of a Hungarian Jew, who just survived from a concentration camp and finds passage to America to work as an architect. Screening on Sunday at The Everyman, tickets and information are available here.
Time, date, place: 6:15pm, Friday November 15, The Arc Cinema, North Main Street, Cork; 3:30pm, Saturday November 16, The Triskel, Tobin Street; 5pm, Saturday November 16, The Arc; 2pm, Sunday November 17, The Everyman, MacCurtain Street; 7pm, Sunday November 17, The Arc.
Dropped Frames is an exhibition by emerging film artist Asha Murray at the Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, based around hand tufted everyday objects, sounds and film. Made to reminisce on Xtravision Friday evenings, you select a film from Asha’s creations and immerse yourself in it. More information available here.
Time, date, place: Saturday November 9 - Saturday November 30, Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, Fitzgerald Park, Cork.
In Shandon, Flesh & Sensations from the Baroque is an exhibition featuring works by David Manno, an artist from New York working in Ireland, and Ireland 3000, an Irish artist working in Berlin. Manno explores the complexity and beauty of flesh through with charcoal works on paper. Ireland 3000 reimagines religious imagery from the baroque period through large-scale, brightly-coloured wood block prints. More information here, the exhibition runs at the Laneway Gallery until December 7.
Time, date, place: Thursday November 14 - Saturday November 7, Laneway Gallery, Shandon Street, Cork.
Cork Undressed is a live talk show that is filmed upstairs in The Roundy, hosted by Daniel Lukas, who considers himself to be the only funny German. This week their guest is satirist and social commentator Tadhg Hickey, to talk about why Ireland sympathises so heavily with Palestine, followed by music by Limerick rapper Citrus Fresh. Tickets are available here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Monday November 18, The Roundy, Castle Street, Cork.
The Fireside Sessions are a live music session in Mr. Bradley’s, on Barrack Street, featuring local original music. On Tuesday, they feature four piece band The Guilteens, who fuse elements of blues, jazz, psychedelia and dark pop. They are joined by singer songwriters Ciaran Quigley, Ryan Coghlan, Bear Bojack and Luke Daly. Entry is free.
Time, date, place: 7:30pm, Tuesday November 19, Mr. Bradley’s, Barrack Street, Cork.
This week on T+D
We took a look at the Victorian Quarter, the VQ, and how the place name divides
VQ: how two letters created a problem that won't go away
At this week’s City Council meeting, Cllr Michelle Gould of Sinn Féin called for an amendment to a motion proposed by Cllr Joe Kavanagh of Fine Gael. So far, so very City Council-esque.
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.
A plan is better than a concept of a plan 😎