☀️The Friday View 20/06
A (quarter) billionaire lives amongst us, eight new Cork rail stations pledged, Kilian’s Opera House cameo – plus your Midsummer weekend rundown. All in the Friday View.
Hello and welcome to the Friday View. Let’s get cooking.
Windfall: As one wag on X said, “Imagine being from Cork and winning the Euromillions!” (And donating six figures to T+D:). What a week for someone in Cork!
Speaking of windfalls, this week the Government approved the purchase of the Citywest Hotel and Convention Centre on the outskirts of Dublin for €148.2 million. The sale had been expected, and it aligns with the Programme for Government commitment to own 14,000 accommodation units for asylum seekers.
One firm that stands to gain significantly from the sale is Tetrarch Capital - whom you might remember from our 2023 piece (below). The investment firm also owns the two warehouses on Parnell Place which have lain vacant for nearly a decade. Tetrarch filed planning permission for a hotel in 2018 (the same year it bought Citywest), but appears more focused on acquiring existing hotels for resale than developing its own projects. Cork City Council told us in 2023 that there was 'regular communication with the owners to ensure the approved project progresses'. It hasn't happened yet, but perhaps now it might?
Tetrarch Capital’s had four years to develop two vacant sites at Parnell Place. What’s happened in the meantime?
More than four years after being granted planning permission to develop a hotel on the site of listed buildings at Parnell Place in Cork city centre, Dublin-based developers Tetrarch Capital have yet…
Rail news, phase 2: The headline transport news this week was the announcement of details for eight new rail stations on the Cork commuter line. Some of these, such as Monard, have been long promised.
Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) has long indicated these locations (we actually reported on them in 2023 in one of our most-read articles). The proposed stations include three on the Mallow line (Blarney/Stoneview, Monard, and Blackpool/Kilbarry), two between Kent Station and Glounthaune (Tivoli and Dunkettle), two on the Midleton line (Carrigtwohill West and Water Rock), and one on the Cobh line (Ballynoe).
8 new train stations are planned for Cork but will they be on track by 2030?
It will be 15 years next year since a train station was opened in Cork, and even then, when Midleton train station came back online in 2009, that was the result of opening a shuttered station.
The plans also include two new park-and-ride facilities on the city's northside, a new fleet depot in East Cork, and proposals for full electrification of the rail network. The Cork Area Commuter Rail (CACR) programme carries a €1 billion price tag - though this is likely to increase, assuming the stations even get built. We remain far from that stage.
Following the current consultation on preferred options, Iarnród Éireann will review submissions before holding a further consultation phase.
In addition to the ongoing online consultation, six in-person consultation events will be held beginning this month.
On stage, on cructhes: The Second Woman has been one of the biggest talking point of the Cork Midsummer Festival. As you have probably heard, actress Eileen Walsh performed the same scene 100 times, with 100 different men, over 24 hours. The catch here: every man is different, and the scene has a different energy each time. I was one of the 100 men.
The premise is simple: based on John Cassavetes’ ‘Opening Night’, the men play Marty, while Walsh plays Virginia. On paper, the scene is a bit downbeat a relationship winding up, but directors, Nat Randall and Anna Breckon, have staged this at least five times already, including with Ruth Wilson in London and Alia Shawkat in New York, so they’ve had plenty of experience, and direction, especially for the novice actors.
I (Kilian) got involved with it through my bar job. “Did you ever hear of Eileen Walsh?,” a regular who is involved with the Midsummer asked me one day. I had. Walsh was in Disco Pigs with Cillian Murphy when it was first staged. Cut to the Midsummer play and that they’re looking for 100 men to star opposite Walsh.
This could be good craic after work, I think to myself, and I and a colleague get in touch to get involved. We both did the five-minute interview with the producers, indicating our preference to do it in the late hours after work.
Soon after, our time slots came, my colleague was scheduled for 5am Sunday morning, I’m on at 2:30pm on Sunday. There goes our plan - my buddy has to perform in the small hours on his own, I have to perform in front of a likely full Opera House with Walsh nearing the end of her marathon.
We get the scripts two weeks before the performance. The first line: “Sorry I (blank) you. You (blank) me.” Whatever we choose to say sets the tone of our interaction with Walsh. There’s a sloppy dance. You choose to either say “I love you” or “I never loved you”. The pressure is on.
And then I strain a muscle while playing football, leaving me out of work and and on crutches. I can’t perform the sloppy dance. Since I can’t work, there goes the mutual moral support me and my friend planned to give each other before we each go on stage.
I decided to go in anyways to see my friend’s performance of Marty. It’s unusual to get up at 4:30am and go to the theatre, and it was very Lynchian - I felt like I was in Mulholland Drive. I saw two different interpretations of Marty before my friend’s one - one harsh, direct, stern, the next romantic and soft.
My colleague based his scene around exactly what he was doing, getting home a little too late from his bar shift. “I’m sorry I forgot you, you know me,” he says. “What are you thinking,” says Virginia. “That I stayed a bit longer than I should have.” The scene plays out that Marty is in Virginia’s bad books.
It was nerve-racking for him, but he was happy he did it. We have a drink, we do the moral support that was originally intended, and I’m a bit more at ease with doing it now that I’ve seen it.
The next day, I head down to the Opera House. I’m running late, I’m tired, I’m bricking it. Apparently, there’s a waiting room where you’re talking to the other actors, but since I’m on crutches and can’t go upstairs, I’m sat on my own with one of the crew. Luckily, the two performers after me are regulars at the bar. There’s some mutual support given.
It’s my go. I’m brought through the darkness to a small door. One of the crew gives me a count down from five. Off I go, into a tiny pink room. Luckily, I can’t see the crowd, but they’re animated. “Sorry I was mean to you, you annoyed me,” I say. “You annoyed me!”, Walsh replies instantly.
I wasn’t expecting that, and it was then that I realised this would be more unpredictable than I imagined. “What are you thinking?,” she asks. My reply, “that I should think before I speak,” gets a few uh hos from the audience. The scene plays out that I’m in trouble with her and I need to make amends, though I make a poor effort.
I try my best to dance while sitting, and act like I’m tired of it to try and make it interesting. I opt for the “I never loved you”, get an ooh from the audience, and leave. Job done.
My buddy reassured me that I had done a good job, that it was a “funny one, and I get a few “well dones”. Happy days. I watched the performances for the next hour, it was fascinating and a little addicting. The tone of every scene was different and you never knew what you were going to get.
Eileen Walsh adapted to every line thrown at her, and was the anchor in every scene. You would never had known that she was on stage for 22 hours when it was my turn to show up. She was amazing until the very end.
The reviews I’ve seen so far have sung its praises. I wish I could have seen more of it, seen every take. Being part of it was an experience I’ll never forget. To misquote Dexys Midnight Runners: G'wan Eileen.
Monard, back on track?: One of eight new stations planned by Irish Rail is at Monard, near Rathpeacon. Why build a station amid fields near Blarney?
Monard is a Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) – like Adamstown in Dublin. First proposed over a decade ago, it’s intended as a counterbalance to Midleton, Carrigaline, Glanmire, and Ballincollig, with plans (still active?) to co-locate housing and rail on Cork’s less populated northern fringe.
The blueprint shows a train station as the town centre, flanked by three village hubs, 5,000 homes, and a 10,000-strong population. The most recent planning scheme (Cork County Council, 2018) is now seven years old. Radio silence since – though the area’s exclusion from Cork’s 2019 boundary extension hints at lingering council ambition.
In his long read in The Irish Examiner from 2022, Eoin English noted that developer Michael O’Flynn, who owns a 30 acre landbank in the SDZ, was eager to begin development in Monard, but only with the aid of state agencies.
English also noted that the lack of a Northern Ring Road had also led to an An Bord Pleanála inspector considering limiting the number of units allowed at the site to 3,800 units. That’s not happening anytime soon, and at the moment, the roads around Monard clearly could not handle the traffic generated by a settlement of that scale either, railway station or not. However, the 2018 plan includes a new road that seems like it would link with the proposed northern distributor road.
Raise the Roof: Tomorrow, June 21, a broad coalition of trade unions and opposition parties will lead a protest to once more bring attention to the single biggest crisis in Ireland, the accommodation crisis. It takes place on Grand Parade, meeting at the National Monument at 2pm as news this week shows that once more the government will definitely miss its housing targets and as amendments to Rent Pressure Zone were signed into law.
Gibson Fellow: Cork-based Irish-Iraqi Basil Al-Rawi artist has been named the inaugural Gibson Travelling Fellow which is administered by the Crawford Art Gallery. Al-Rawi, whose work explores cultural memory and digital identity, will use the award to “support an extended period of self-determined enquiry across Lebanon, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and France” according to the Crawford. The triennial award is worth €25,000.
Out + About
Animal Operetta: Possibly the highlight of the final weekend of Midsummer Fest will be the street theatre spectacle from renowned French street theatre company Compagnie OFF, who are bringing their giant red giraffes to St Patrick’s Street. The giraffes will be accompanied by a troupe of bumbling keepers, musicians, and performers, as the streets of Cork are transformed into a fantastical urban savannah.
Time, date, place: 2pm and 9pm, Sunday June 22, St Patrick’s Street and North Main Street.
Soil, Strut and Feast: Test Site on Kyrl’s Quay is still with us, and this weekend it plays host to Lords of Strut as part of Midsummer Festival. Chop takes aim at masculinity (tickets here) and stars Cian Austin Jesus, a real man with an axe. Cork Queer Nature Collective are hosting a foraged feast on site (all welcome). Finally, on Sunday, Soil Saviers will be meeting on-site first to harvest some garlic planted at the winter solstice; it’s tradition to plant garlic on the shortest day of the year so it’s ready to harvest on the longest. This will be followed by a tour, as they showcase the various composting methods we’re trialling onsite, before finishing up with chats, cardboard tearing (a source of carbon for our compost!), and some general mucking about with our setups. All events take place at Test Site on Kyrl’s Quay, opposite the Bridewell Garda Station.
Time, date, place: Chop by Lords of Strut at 6pm on Friday 20 Saturday 21 June; Solstice Social: Foraged Feast with Cork Queer Nature Collective at 11am - 1pm on Saturday 21 June; Soil-stice with the Soil Savers at 12 -2pm on Sunday 22 June
Gig for Gaza: Irish musicians have been at the forefront in highlighting the IDF’s onslaught and slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza (see Kneecap), but closer to home, Cork bands are not shying away and are gigging to raise vital funds. Three Cork outfits – Other Mother, BABYRAT and Maya Libby – are all taking to the stage in Dali next Thursday, 26 June, for ‘A Gig for Gaza’. Tickets €10.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Thursday, June 26, Dali, 8 Lavitt's Quay Cork
YouthQuake Fitzgerald’s Park takes over this Saturday as part of Midsummer Fest. All the activities – workshops in art, writing, music – are designed for young people and are free. Expect energetic performances from Sauti Studios, Cork Migrant Centre Youth, YMCA Ireland, Music Generation CC, The Kabin Studio, and many others. More information here.
Time, date, place: 1-5pm, Saturday, June 21, Fitzgerald’s Park.
Camille, in Cork: Passage West’s finest crooner, Camille O'Sullivan, is back in town for one night only for her Midsummer show, which promises to celebrate her hometown and its music through a mix of beloved favourites and new gems. What does that sound like? Well, expect Rory Gallagher, Seán Ó Riada, and The Sultans of Ping, along with nods to songs like Jimmy McCarthy’s ‘The Contender’ (a tribute with a personal family connection to Jack Doyle), and music by Simple Kid.Tickets and info here.
Time, date, place: 8:30pm, Saturday, June 21, The Everyman, MacCurtain Street
Taste that: As a documentary title, Director Murray Lerner's Lens on Taste is a bit of a mouthful, but What's Going On: Taste Live at the Isle of Wight Festival explores Ireland's seminal rock band Taste, then led by the über-talented Rory Gallagher - the focus of a retrospective in his hometown this summer. The musical journey culminates with Rory and Taste on stage at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. Tickets and more info here.
Time, date, place: 7pm, Thursday June 26, The Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street
That’s it for this week’s Friday View. As always, any tips, comments, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, you can contact us 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.
I'm glad that guy enjoyed his cameo in that 24 hr play. He should give the acting a serious go, because you can see objectively that his heart is not in it behind the bar anyway.