The Friday View 19/01
Cork City Council has a draft of its Tree Strategy, Uisce Éireann brief Cork City Councillors and Cork County Council misses affordable housing target.
Welcome to the Friday View on Tripe + Drisheen. It’s been a freezing week on the south coast. But, now for some news you didn’t already know!
It is the first of its kind, for Cork city anyway, and coming in at 55 pages the Draft Cork City Tress Strategy is a significant and wordy document. Yes, there are buzzwords, jargon and Americanisms that are an inherent part of descriptive and prescriptive policy documents, but there is a small forest of data that maps out where in the city trees grow and thrive, and more importantly where they are scarcer than bike lanes.
From that Tree Strategy doc:
At present there are over 310,000 trees and over 1,400 kilometres of hedgerows in Cork City’s administrative area.
In the past, trees within cities were typically only valued for ornamental purposes and were seen as a ‘nice to have’ amenity. However, we now recognize that trees in cities are fundamental to human wellbeing and the functioning of the natural environment on which we all depend
Trees in cities provide a healthier environment for everyone. They absorb carbon dioxide and other gases from the air and produce oxygen. Trees improve air quality by trapping dust particles; levels can be reduced up to 60% on tree-lined streets compared to those without
What it all adds up to is a policy document that explicitly states that trees matter. That’s significant.
From the introduction to the draft Tree Strategy:
This tree strategy has been prepared to address these issues. It sets out Cork City Council’s internal policies and specific action plan through 2028 (the timeframe of the current Development Plan) to
manage public trees
retain existing trees
carry out and support more new tree planting in the city
further develop the information base and foundations necessary for the creation of a long-range tree strategy for Cork City, including the development of additional ecological corridors and woodlands
A few points to note. Most of the trees in the city are not on public land, not that a tree knows this distinction, but 83% of trees in Cork city grow and reside in private property. The canopy cover of Cork city at 13% is just above the national level (12%), but well below European cities of similar size. For example Tampere in Finland, a city similar in size to Cork, has a tree canopy coverage of a whopping 60%.
On a more granular level, the Tree Strategy reveals that areas of the city such as around Knocknaheeny/Hollyhill/Churchfield are almost tree deserts, with canopy coverage coming in at 5%. Most people would anecdotally have been aware of this: look up towards Hollyhill from the city centre and trees are conspicuous by their absence. Meanwhile, down the docks, trees are close to non existent, where the current tree canopy is at 1%. The Tree Strategy should inform the importance of planting and maintaining trees as the Docklands enters a decade of regeneration and development.
The Tree Strategy is less descriptive than it is prescriptive, meaning it dwells less on the past - albeit it does highlight that our tree canopy has decreased in the past few years - than on what can, will and should be done to make our city greener.
Obviously, key to this is planting more trees, but also and just as importantly planting the right mix of trees (i.e. native species). Since 2021, the City Council has planted 8,000 trees on Council-owned and managed land, but as the Strategy reveals, there are over 60,000 private gardens in Cork city, so it will take a village (or city) to increase canopy cover.
The Tree Strategy will run until 2028, and in that time the City Council aims to buid a tree inventory database which would tell us more about the health records of individual trees, because no doubt the history of a tree tells us as much about a tree as it does about local history and geography.
Other areas addressed are tree preservation orders, street tree planting (it’s costly!) and much else. I did not see mention of miniature urban forests, sometimes known as Miyawaki forests* after the Japanese botanist who first proposed them, and which have been sprouting up around the world. However, the next step is for the draft Tree Strategy is to go before public consultation. This will be your chance to read it and have your say. All in all though, it’s good to see the conversation move back to real trees and greening the city.
*Update: Page 32 of the draft Tree Strategy references a Parisian “microforest” growing alongside a major highway, showing what can be done with the pocket forests. Thanks to reader for pointing that out.
Uisce Éireann were before City Councillors this week in which they gave a presentation to address, well, what’s going on with the state of waterworks in the city and why are there are so many cases of discoloured water, what’s being done to address this and is it safe to drink?
As the map below shows, Uisce Éireann have works ongoing across the city. Once cause of the discoloured water is manganese, a silver-grey metal that occurs naturally in soil, water and rocks. HSE guidelines state that we have a limit of 50 micrograms per litre, above that it can be a “risk to health”.
Uisce Éireann officials in their presentation told the City Council that where and when it occurs, people should not drink discoloured water, instead leave the tap run for a few minutes and if it persists contact Uisce Éireann on 1800 287 287 with details of dates, times, frequency and duration of events.
News in brief
As reported in The Irish Examiner, the government is considering buying a €57m student accommodation complex in Cork to house international protection applicants, leading to much speculation of which complex. Currently, it is being used to house students, but if it’s bought it would be used to house up to 400 international protection applicants.
This day last week, January 11, the news broke that Nash 19 on Princes Street run by Claire Nash was ceasing trading with the loss of 20 jobs. The restaurant had been closed for its annual post Christmas break. Ms Nash cited the cost of doing business as one of the reasons, and liquidators have moved in. Nash 19 had ceased selling vouchers for the restaurant on the run up to Christmas.
A report presented to Cork County Council this week revealed that the local authority missed its target of building 622 affordable houses by a long way: in 2023, 369 were delivered from a target of 622 homes The Echo reports.
Meanwhile, a report from the homeless charity Simon, revealed that only two properties were available to rent in Cork city under the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) Scheme. Via Simon Communities of Ireland’s quarterly Locked Out of the Market report.
And finally, Cork City Council sent out an email full of promise to media this week for an invite to a briefing at the end of the month with senior Council executives in which they will “set out how the city is entering a period of significant change as work begins on a range of transformational projects.” Place your bets!
Out + About
NuWave Collective is a new street art-based collective, and they will be hosting their first graffiti jam, Meeting of the Biys, on Sunday at the Marina Market. The jam, sponsored by Repall Skateshop and Myo Café, features breakdancers Cyphed, music with a DJ set by Stevie G, and a breakdancing battle. Dancers are open to sign up for the battle until 12pm on Sunday, the event starts at 11am, with the dancers kicking off at 1pm. Head down to the Market check out the city’s emerging street art scene!
Time, date, place: 11am, Sunday January 21, Marina Market, Centre Park Road, Cork.
Fuzzy Pockets return with their monthly Roundy gig yet again with a tribute to their hero, Daniel Johnston, on Monday. A celebration of the late musician’s birthday, the night features The Yip Jumpers, a power punk Daniel Johnston tribute featuring Andy Wilson, Shane Murphy and Tomás O'Brien. Fuzzy Pockets have been great for promoting younger musicians, and some of those who will be playing on the night include Rory Francis O’Brien, Conor Bourgal and Richard Delaney. Tickets and information here, why not share their love for an incredible musician!
Time, date, place: 8pm, Monday January 22, The Roundy, Castle Street, Cork.
CineCeoil Festival is a new music video and short film festival that is being held from Friday to Sunday, and organised by local producer Ronan Leonard. Each date of the festival will focus on a different theme of the intersection between music and film, with Friday focusing on music videos from many different corners and genres around the globe. The last day, Sunday, focuses on music videos and songs that entertain all ages in the afternoon, with instrumental music videos coming to the fore in the evening. The festival also features three feature film screenings: Love, Gilda, a documentary about the life of Gilda Radner, The Year of the Langer, about musicians in Cork, and a film about young Palestinians as they discover hip hop called Slingshot Hip Hop. Entry is free with a suggested donation, tickets and information here for Friday and here for Sunday.
Time, date, place: 6pm, Friday January 19, 3:30pm, Saturday January 20, 4pm, Sunday January 21, The Pavilion, Carey’s Lane, Cork.
It’s a tale as old as Kerry that the Kerryman comes to Cork to get ahead. This month, until February, Crane Visual presents some of the Kingdom’s artists in Cork with Le Salon du Kerry at the Firkin Crane. Organised in association with the Grilse Gallery in Killorglin, the exhibition features artists from Kerry, including Darragh Kinch, Silke Michels, Rochelle Lucey, Deirdre McKenna, Zoe Green, Jacqueline O’Driscoll, and others. The exhibition also features the Grilse’s print collection and runs until the 24th of February.
Time, date, place: 10am-10pm, Thursday January 18-Saturday February 24, Firkin Crane, John Redmond Street, Shandon, Cork.
Exhibitions return to the Lord Mayor’s Pavilion in FitzGerald Park with Sample Studios presenting Hidden Pasts, Potential Futures. Done in collaboration with A4 Sounds Studios in Dublin and Engage Art Studios in Galway, the exhibition features artists from the three studios, and focuses on the cyclical nature of the Earth’s ecosystem, through the lens of place, landscape, material and loss. The exhibition runs until February 25th.
Time, date, place: 11am-4pm, Thursday January 18-Sunday February 25, Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, FitzGerald Park, The Mardyke, Cork.
Tonight the Sirius Arts Centre presents two local artists’ works. Sarah Long performs W/w, which analyses the influence of Irish history and literature on cultural memory. Long also explores the collective Irish perspective of space and territory, who gets to exist in those spaces, and reflects on repressed feminine archetypes. The performance is complemented by Elinor O’Donovan’s short film The Immeasurable Grief of the Prawn, which has been screened at Generator Projects in Dundee and the Cork Film Festival, and explores themes of ecology, ethics and consumption. The film and performance are followed by a discussion between O’Donovan, Long and Sirius Director Miguel Amado.
Time, date, place: 8pm-10pm, Friday January 19, Sirius Arts Centre, Westbourne Place, Cobh.
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.
This week on T+D:
Pádraig O’ Connor reviewed Light Falls from final-year students in the BA in Theatre and Drama Studies at the MTU Cork School of Music. Now showing at the Stack Theatre in the School of Music. Ends Saturday, January 20.
And JJ had his say on the renaming debacle ongoing at Páirc Uí Chaoimh which landed him on the Neil Prenderville show which you can listen back to from the 1:30 mark (if you have nothing else to do!)
