☘️The Friday View 17/03
It's Paddy's Day and it's lashing rain! We have you covered for indoor events for the long weekend, as well as our regular round-up of news and the week on T+D.
Dia dhuit, happy St Patrick’s Day and welcome to the Friday View from Tripe+Drisheen. Thanks for your support and do help spread the word about T+D.
In praise of librarians
One of the morning rituals in our house is to tear off the date on the daily calendar (do those calendars have a specific name?) Haruki then proceeds to read out the historical fact, quote or bit of wisdom that accompanies the particular day and date, and I pretend I already knew that tidbit of history.
The reason I mention the calendar is because we picked it up at the end of last year at our local library. We have pieces of the library all over the house. By pieces, I mean books (they’re all intact), but also annuals, comics, cookbooks and novels.
I was reminded of the library this week, or more specifically of librarians as the news of protests over a particular book made the news. Much like the furor over Gary Lineker’s temporary suspension from hosting BBC’s Match of the Day deflected from the bigger issue of immigrants risking their lives on flimsy boats to reach the UK, the actions of a handful people inside the City Library overshadowed the work that librarians do, and the unlikely and unwanted situation they find themselves in which boils down to being bothered, intimidated and filmed at work.
I don’t want to focus on This Book is Gay, as I have not read it. Yet. (A lot of other people have also not read the book, but clearly have many opinions about it). But it should be noted it is library policy that members under the age of 18 are required a guarantor to join and the responsibility for ensuring that they borrow age-appropriate content lies solely with the parent or guardian. Library staff are not employed to police what you can and can’t borrow. Amen to that.
Since I moved back to Cork, our local library has been a near-weekly port of call. It’s also part of the My Open Library initiative which means you can pop in when staff are not working to borrow books, or to study which lots of people do (more than 1,200 people have signed up so far).
I’ve talked and interviewed staff from the City Library on a number of different occasions. Every single time they’ve been accommodating, helpful, knowledgeable and friendly. While it’s a generalisation, there’s a certain type of person who works at a library, and it’s likely they like books as much as they like helping people and planning events that draw in the community which include music circles, book readings, colouring competitions, exhibitions and much, much else.
They also have to like, or at least not mind, returning books to their rightful places on shelves.
On a recent visit to the local library in Douglas, I asked the staff member if she could recommend a few books for Haruki who’d read for Ireland (and Japan!). She spent about five minutes chasing down books after which she had formed a neat pile of about half a dozen books from which he could choose.
I’m sure this is a typical request, and something that library staff do umpteen times of day. Another time, the librarian let us borrow a reference book as it was all about trains and trains were for a while the most important thing in Fionn’s life. Evidently, she could see that and applied a little bit of flexibility.
My point is that everyone who uses the library likely has a story or fifty about why they use the library and how the staff in our libraries go above and beyond. And I think that’s worth remembering, and possibly also shouting about. So thank you Cork city librarians.
-JJ
Cork City libraries: a statistical snapshot
71,228 visits were made to all 10 Cork city libraries this past January, an increase of 73% on January 2022 according to Cork City Council Executive management report released this week.
The number of visits is substantially up from January 2019 (64,566), roughly one year before the Coronavirus pandemic.
Just over 60,200 items were borrowed from the city libraries in January, while 49,777 items were returned across the service.
42,382 people are currently members of Cork City Libraries, up 15% from 2021.
News in brief
Onwards and upwards: The Crawford Art Gallery has passed a significant hurdle in its expansion plans with Cork City Council clearing the way for the €29 million redevelopment, which is being funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
The proposed redevelopment, which includes the construction of a six-storey tower, will significantly alter the skyline around Emmet Place.
That tower will include a “loft-like gallery space” which the Crawford says “will be a gift back to visitors, where people can experience particular qualities of light and beautiful views over the city in different directions. This new space will provide a unique exhibition space at the level of the city’s urban skyline.”
The proposed redevelopment will increase gallery space by 45% and will include a new Learn and Explore facility. It’s a tricky project, given that the original building - the Custom House - dates back to 1724. The modern wing, which overlooks Half Moon Street, was welded onto the main building at the turn of the last millennium, but the two parts have always felt slightly at odds with each other.
If all goes to plan, construction will start in the autumn of 2024 during which the gallery will close for a period of two-and-a-half years.
GAA only at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in 2023: Gavin O’Callaghan had a story about the line-up of gigs that won’t be happening at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in 2023. Last year the GAA stadium hosted Ed Sheeran, Elton John and Westlife. South Africa also took on Munster.
However, no acts have been announced for 2023, with Cork GAA citing the lack of availability of major acts as the reason why they won’t be staging any gigs. That said, Musgrave Park and Live at Marquee will be hosting some well-known names including Rod Stewart, George Ezra, Christy Moore and Florence + The Machine to name a few.
There will however be two Munster Hurling Championship games, and in the football a Munster semi-final.
About those public toilets: Cllr Paudie Dinnen raised the issue of public toilets at this week's council meeting, especially as an expected 50,000 people will be in the city centre for today's parade. No portaloos will be installed, but the toilets at City Hall and the Concert Hall will be open to the public.
The council implemented a Public Toilet Policy in May 2021, which sets out short, medium, and long-term policies. Public toilets were opened at North Main Street Shopping Centre in 2021 (short-term goals), and in the medium term, there is a plan, or talk about a plan, for toilets on Grand Parade.
In the long term, all "public realm projects must consider/include the provision of public toilets in their proposals." But consider the word "consider" and how weak or strong that is as policy?
There are public toilets at the English Market, Marina Park, Bishopstown Park, Tramore Valley Park, Ballincollig Regional Park, and Fitzgerald's Park. Some of these require payment for entry.
The other route the City Council is exploring is the provision of toilets by private businesses ("Leeside Leithreas"), which could be argued is the de facto public policy. However, closures under Covid 19 showed the vulnerability of that policy. Also, there's the tension between public vs. private and spending a penny to spend a penny. The answer then to Cllr Dineen's question would seem to be: keep checking in.
Out+About
☘️Today, March 17, is all about the St. Patrick’s Day parade. If you’re heading into Cork city, make sure to bring an umbrella! The parade runs from 1 to 3pm, starting at the eastern end of South Mall and proceeding onto Grand Parade and along St. Patrick’s Street. The theme of this year’s parade is "A Century of Stories." You can also tune in to watch a livestream of the parade online from the City Council’s website here.
There’s plenty of free entertainment throughout the city over the bank holiday weekend.
🗣Teddy Black will be beguiling audiences at The Franciscan Well with traditional storytelling today from 4:30pm to 6pm.
🖼🎶Over at the Crawford Art Gallery, to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, there’s a tour of ‘Great Irish Artists in the Collection’. If you’re in early, especially if you’re with kids, there;’s a family workshop in the upper galley from 11am - 1pm. Between 3-4:45pm trad musicians will be holding court in the gallery. All events are free. Details here.
🎻Across town in Coughlans on Douglas Street, Céilí Allstars, one of North Cork’s finest trad bands will be tearing it up from 6pm. Free entry.
Dwyers of Cork and the Francisican Well will also have trad music sessions with music by Cool Coolore kicking off at Dwyers from 1 pm and two sessions at the Well, the first at 2:30 and the second at 5pm
🧶Nano Nagle Place will hold St. Patrick’s Day markets on March 18 and 19 (11am- 4pm) at its centre on Douglas Street with a host of local artists from across Cork showing their art and crafts. Free enrty. More information here.
🎻🎶There are more free trad sessions in the following pubs across the weekend:
Friday, March 17
The Long Valley, The Corner House 6pm
The White Horse, Ballincollig 6:30pm
Sin É 7:30pm
An Spailpín Fánach 8pm
JJ Walsh's 9:30pm Sin É
Saturday, March 18
Sin É 6:30pm
The Long Valley, An Spailpín Fánach, Sin É all 9:30pm start
Sunday, March 19
Charlie's 3pm
Sin É 5:30pm
The White Horse, Ballincollig 6pm
Tom Barry's 7:30pm
Sin É 8:30pm
The Gables 9:30pm
Full list of all sessions and times at the Lee Sessions
🖼Exhibition: Catarina Araújo Cocooning – Catch a Breath opened this week at the Lord Mayor’s Pavilion in Fitzgerald’s Park. It’s the Cork-based Portuguese artist first solo show at the Pavilion, which is used as exhibition space by Sample-Studios. The pandemic and our response to it are the overarching themes that inspire Araújo’s new show, which was designed while working with mental health professionals based in the city.
Time, date, place: 11am - 4 pm, Tues-Sat, March 16 - April 22, The Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, Fitzgerald’s Park
This week on T+D:
On Monday, Ellie finally published her investigative piece into how many derelict sites Cork County Council has registered. Although the data should be publicly available, it took months of emailing and chasing down figures before Ellie found the magic number. The full story is available below:
On Tuesday, we reported on the monthly city council meeting, which was dominated by the recent government decision to end the eviction ban. Ellie has a full report on that meeting here.
On Wednesday, JJ wrote about a community art project involving artist Ciara Roche, the Glucksman, and Good Shepherd Cork. The months-long project brought a small group of women who have experienced homelessness together with Ciara, resulting in a special exhibition. The full story is available here.
Our long read this week was from Cork via Porto. Kilian McCann got the lowdown on St. Patrick's Day festivities in Portugal, where it’s probably not raining.
And finally, remeber our bridge photo competition is running during the month of March. We’d love to see your snaps. Full details here:
This article was edited on 17/03 at 9.05 am to remove a reference to a six-week appeals period on the Crawford Art Gallery’s planning application. There is no appeals process remaining on the planning permission.
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.
Nice piece on the Libraries. And as you say they’re great people too. Check out this for an overview of the services that they provide free of charge.
https://www.librariesireland.ie/