The Friday View 20/12
🎄And that's a wrap! Before we close out the final Friday View and Out + About of the year, we look back at 2024 and some of the stories that defined the year and that we covered on T+D.
Good morning and welcome to the Friday View. Let’s get to it!
Looking back. And so, as 2024 comes to a close, we look back on a year in which the Event Centre sod grew another year older and more despondent. But while the “will it, won’t it?” sideshow moves backwards, there has been progress elsewhere.
Building work on MacCurtain Street finished up in the spring, with the two-way street officially opened by Tánaiste Micheál Martin (surely the next Taoiseach). In a small but loud act of defiance, a group of pro-Palestinian protestors shouted over his speech as he officially launched the redevelopment of the historic street. Just don’t call the area the VQ.
Reimagining: Indeed, the march by those objecting to the scale of Isreal’s brutal and devastating war on Gaza in the wake of the October 7 terror attack by Hamas, continued each and every weekend across 2024. The march takes protestors past the construction site on Grand Parade, where builders have been nearly a full year working on the re-imagining of Bishop Lucy Park and South Main Street. A paved over the pedestrianised Tuckey Street, is partially open, with building work expected to be completed in the summer of 2025. The City Council released a video update this month which you can see here.
Elsewhere, Morrison’s Island is also getting an upgrade, with barges out on the south channel as part of the Morrison’s Island Public Realm and Flood Defence Scheme. That’s going to go throughout 2025 and into 2026. The Marina promenade upgrade finished up this week and will be well worth getting out on after all the stuffing and some is eaten.
The Crawford Art Gallery shut up shop earlier this year, closing its doors after Culture Night. The new improved and expanded gallery won’t be open until 2027 (anticipated). In its absence, expect to see art shows and exhibitions pop up in new and unexpected spaces, which the city will be all the better for.
The Event Centre (saga) might be best summed up in three words. Nothing got built.
One building we’d love to see ground broken on is a library for Mahon and Blackrock. There is no shortage of suitable land in Mahon to serve the two communities, and it’s not as if the need for a library there wasn’t identified long ago. Will one of the new TDs in Cork South-Central champion it?
What’s/how much is in a name? Down the Marina, lots was happening in the early days of January 2024 when Cork County Board grabbed the headlines like a victorious hurler grabbing the Liam McCarthy on All-Ireland final day. That’s because, Cork County Board signed on with SuperValu to grant the supermarket chain the naming rights to the stadium, but not before dropping the name Páirc Uí Chaoimh, followed by a U-turn of sorts, putting Páirc Uí Chaoimh back in and ending up with SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Rolls off the tongue.
Thankfully on the pitch the sporting headlines papered over the corporate begging with Páirc Uí Chaoimh hosting one of games of the year when Limerick came to Cork in May and looked set to head back up the N20 with another victory. But, Cork prevailed, and then just because, they beat them again in Croke Park. Ultimately, while they won the battles they lost the war. But they’ll be back.
Another team who are back, is Cork City F.C., who returned to the big league. They’ve been here before in the recent past. Hopefully this time next year they won’t be back where they were at the start of 2024.
Golden boys: 2024 will also be remembered as the year Skibbereen athlete Paul O'Donovan became Ireland’s most successful Olympian. Together with Fintan McCarthy, the pair rowed to gold in the lightweight double sculls at the Paris Games, four years after their triumph in Tokyo. Noel was in Skibb for the joyous homecoming in September.
Politically speaking: It was the year of elections: Local, European, and a general one. Despite changes here and there, the picture hasn’t changed drastically. Honore Kamegni made history as the first black man to be elected to Cork City Council, and two city councillors were elected to the Dail. In what’s been one of the fastest political progressions in a while, Pádraig Rice of the Social Democrats was elected to the City Council in June and the Dáil in November. We watched a lot of local politics, and sometimes you wonder who’d want to do it? Former Deputy Lord Mayor, Collette Finn outlined why in a guest essay for T+D.
Trees are culture too: For Culture Night in September, T+D hosted a talk about trees and even gave a few away. Thanks to our speakers, all who turned out, and Rob from Callanan’s, who just might be the most welcoming and good-spirited barman on George’s Quay. Also, if you haven’t picked up a 2025 calendar yet, Trees Please have a lovely one and it’s all in aid of planting more trees.
Movers and shakers: After a tenure of 10 years, Ann Doherty stepped down from the top job in the City Council and exited City Hall turning right for the short walk up the Lee where she was appointed CEO of the Port of Cork Company. Valerie O’Sullivan, acting boss of the County Council, overcame welcome media scrutiny around her hacked X account, to return to the City Council where she takes over from Doherty. Meanwhile, Kerry woman Moira Murrell, CEO of Kerry County Council, took over from O’Sullivan, returning to Cork County Council where she was previously a director. None of the women are on X.
The kids are alright: Up on the Northside, the kids in the Kabin Krew, together with the Lisdoonvarna Crew, were hot contenders for song of the summer with their banger “The Spark.” Kilian wrote about the Kabin Krew in 2023, highlighting the immense talent on the Northside and what can come of it with some tutoring, encouragement, and funding.
Numbers game: As is customary at this time of the year, media outlets share their biggest performing stories of the year. Interestingly, our biggest story of 2023 (and ever) was about a bike shed. And one of the biggest stories/scandals of this year was also about a bike shed, but in the grounds of Leinster House. Our biggest story of the year on T+D was by Kilian and about the Cobh Clock Tower, a beautiful piece of heritage. As the opening line of that article goes: The Cobh Clock Tower is one of the maritime town’s most important historical buildings, not that you would know from its current state.
In fact, this is the kind of story that we’d like to do more of in 2025. The ones that hide in plain sight, but are also puzzles, and that take a bit of time and digging to string together.
In Blackpool: Another story from this year that is full of hope, promise and hard work is about Brazilian Pam Moretti who’s worked her backside off to set up her own dressmaking shop in Blackpool. Pam is just one of the crafters and entrepreneur we reported on throughout 2024.
On Evergreen St: Among the notable figures who passed away this year was the irrepressible Nell McCafferty, who, for a brief time, lived at 55 Evergreen Street. Wherever the Derry native went, she documented the world around her, and so it was with Evergreen Street: “The homes of Evergreen Street are the people's art form. Terraced, compact, redbrick on one side, tall grey concrete on the other. At one end, there is a bright Chinese takeaway. At the other, there is a quiet granite Protestant church, tolling solemn Sunday bells.”
Ars lange, much reviewed: This year, Pádraig wrote a great deal about the arts in Cork and backed that up with reviews from the Everyman, the Opera House, Cork Arts Theatre and elsewhere. Here’s the thing we’ve noticed: there’s an audience for reviews and for arts journalism. With a few exceptions, arts journalism in the city has been gutted or reduced to two-thumbs-up clichés. Artists, actors, and directors deserve more than that, and in our small way, we hope we’re doing our bit to support and appraise their work.
Not to take from Pádraig’s considered reviews, but perhaps award for review of the year goes to Haruki (nepo baby!) who kicked off his appraisal of the excellent The Summer I Robbed a Bank like so: Hello. I watched The Summer I Robbed a Bank and here is my review.
There’s some great music coming out of Cork (Altered Hours, Fixity, Elaine Howley) and in 2025 it would be great to add a music reviewer to the T+D team. We’d also love to do more of more in general, and hopefully with the New Year comes good news on that front.
Social media malaise: One last word on stats, social media, and this newsletter. This year, like many others, we’ve more or less given up posting on X/Twitter. Aside from Elon Musk’s chaos-controlled destruction of the world’s soapbox, posting stories there has little to no impact on traffic. At best, social media sites are useful for driving awareness. We played around briefly with Bluesky, but while it’s well-intentioned, the Twitter redux is never going to hit the Twitter heights: there’s just too much internet, too much social media, too many articles, videos, hot takes, memes, news, and newsletters. Add to the mix AI, which is going to add to the chaos and misinformation. For what it’s worth, we’ll keep posting on Instagram as it’s handy for our Friday View Out + About listings and the occasional bit of hilarious fun! But our focus will be on news and reporting via the Tripe+Drisheen newsletter.
In the meantime, all that remains to be said is a very, very ALL CAPS BIG THANK YOU to all our subscribers, especially those who stump up to keep the little T+D ship afloat. Thank you for your tips, corrections, feed back, criticism and above all for your support.
To all readers, thank you and Happy Christmas and the best wishes for 2025. Nollaig Shona daoibh go léir.
Out + About
It must be Christmas ‘cos the Frank & Walters are back gigging all over town. 2024 will be the year the boys got their biggest song on the sleeves of a Cork City jersey. It’s not quite SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, but hey. The Franks will be playing two nights in Cyrus Avenue this side of Christmas Day and then it’s across town to Coughlans where they’ll be holding court post Christmas. The Coughlans gig is sold out, but there’s still tickets for Cyprus Avenue. Friday gig tickets here and Saturday gig tickets here.
Time, date, place: 7pm, Friday, Dec 20 and Sat Dec 21, Cyprus Avenue, Caroline St.
Backstory, the musical project of renowned DJ Donal Dineen, includes a quarterly residency at the Commercial Rowing Club in Dublin. He returns to Connolly’s of Leap for a Christmas party, with guest Hewan Mulugeta, a Dublin resident DJ who is originally from Ethiopia, playing world music. Tickets available here.
Time, date, place: 7:30pm, Saturday December 21, Connolly’s of Leap.
Cormac Ó Caoimh is a local singer-songwriter known for his intimate vocals and and melodies, mixing pop, folk, jazz and indie. He plays the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh as part of his ‘A Gig a Month Forever’ tour, playing an array of material from his several albums. Support comes from Eavan O’Leary, an alternative folk songwriter based in East Cork, who co-runs the East Cork Songwriting Group. Tickets are available here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Friday December 20, Sirius Arts Centre, Westbourne Place, Cobh.
Christmas on screen: Christmas time is a great time to watch films, whether they are Christmas films or not. For the past week, The Triskel have been screening Christmas classics such as Home Alone, The Muppet Christmas Carol, and Die Hard and all screenings run until Sunday December 22. Running times and tickets here.
Time, date, place: Sunday December 15 - Sunday December 22, Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street, Cork.
Maja Ban is an experimental artist from Slovenia, who’s craft includes drawing and sculpture rooted in a surrealist style. Her works exhibit at the Ballymaloe Grainstore in Shanagarry until January 6.
Time, date, place: Monday November 25 – Monday January 6, Ballymaloe Grainstore, Shanagarry.
Local pop-punk mad things The Love Buzz return to Cyprus Avenue on Monday for a special Christmas show to wrap up a huge year. 2024 saw the band release their sophomore EP ‘No Different’, do a headline tour of India and play a slot at this year’s Primavera. Tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 7pm, Monday December 23, Cyprus Avenue, Caroline Street, Cork.
Starting as a three-piece from Liverpool, Jukebox Gypsy are known for their eclectic songwriting and high-energy shows and international line-up of English, Dutch, German and Irish musicians. They play a gig over the shop counter in Levis’ in Ballydehob, tickets and information are here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Saturday December 21, Levis’ Corner House, Ballydehob.
Leevy area five piece band based in West Cork with a unique blend of folk rock poetry, punk delivery with Irish traditional undertones. Originally from the Muskerry Gaeltacht, they return to their nearest big town to play at the Briery Gap. Tickets and information available here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Saturday December 28, Briery Gap, Main Street, Macroom.
Fuzzy Pockets have been back in the past few weeks, with a sold out gig taking over The Roundy on Wednesday, featuring Canned Pineapple and Jean Pack. Their next gig is after Christmas, with folk musician Ger Wolfe playing The Roundy. Support comes from Fuzzy Pockets commander in chief, Andy Wilson. Tickets are available here.
Time, date, place: 7pm, Friday December 27, The Roundy, Castle Street, Cork.
Local seasonal radio station Radio Solstice returns for the winter solstice, broadcasting from the Blackrock Castle Observatory. Running between December 20-23, it features an eclectic mix of local artists, DJs, journalists and personalities. Check out their lineup here, and why not pop down for a look.
Time, date, place: 10am - 10pm, Friday December 20 - Sunday December 22, Blackrock Castle Observatory, Castle Road, Cork.
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 rest of 2024 and see you in the New Year.
ICYMI: this week we looked at what a directly elected Mayor of Cork could potentially do, like getting the buses to run on time?
