⚓️The Friday View 23/05
Sayonara, 'robo-trees', you only cost €444k! Welcome back, BAM, you never really left us. Plus, new plans for a commuter ferry in the Harbour. And, our usual round-up of what's on for the week ahead.
Hello, and welcome to the Friday View. Let’s get cooking.
Tripe + Drisheen and/versus the Press Council: Last year, T+D applied for government funding via a new Coimisiún na Meán scheme for regional platforms and titles, aimed at supporting local democracy and court reporting. Earlier in the year, we received news that we had passed Round One and had been provisionally approved for €38k in funding over a 12-month period. This was a huge vote of confidence in Tripe+Drisheen, as, crucially, it would allow us to contract two reporters over that time, ensure them a guaranteed income, and enable us to report more in-depth while keeping all our articles ad-free and available to all.
As you can imagine, there’s understandably a lot of regulatory paperwork involved; we also needed accreditation from the Press Council, a separate body from Coimisiún na Meán. Unfortunately, in March, the Board of the Press Council decided that T+D did not meet its criteria for membership, and without accreditation, Coimisiún na Meán cancelled the second stage of our application.
Now, you might be wondering, as we were, where we fell down in the accreditation process. The answer is that we don’t know, despite repeated requests for more information from the Press Council. As we told reporter Ian Curran for his story in The Irish Times this week, we’ve had “zero clarity” as to what criteria we did not meet. That’s been as frustrating as being shut out, especially when you consider the Press Council accredits media outlets from The Irish Times to Cork Beo, and Gript to The Ditch.
In The Irish Times piece, the Press Council chairman said that the media oversight body had “recently initiated a review of its membership procedures and criteria” and that a subcommittee of the Press Council was set up “last month” to “review those elements of its constitution and procedures relating to membership and resignation/expulsion”.
As for why T+D did not get accredited, it looks like we’ll never find out the reason, but the chairman did tell The Irish Times that one matter to be considered was “communication with prospective members”. That’s something, but for T+D, it’s all too little, too late.
BAM: Staying with failures, BAM signed on the dotted line yesterday, 22 May, to build the M28 Cork to Ringaskiddy motorway. The BAM side of the construction contract is worth €206m, the total cost of the project is just shy of half a billion. BAM will now get shovels ready for the 11km motorway, which is expected to open in summer 2028.
For Alasdair Henderson, Executive Director of BAM Ireland, the photo-op with the Taoiseach in Cork was a good-news story, given that the construction company is usually in the headlines for delays or inaction, as with the dustbowl site on Sullivan’s Quay (where the Tax Office once stood before being cleared in 2009). BAM was granted planning permission to build a hotel on the site, but that lapsed. In 2017, BAM sought permission for a similar development. That, too, has since lapsed. The eyesore has remained for nearly eight years now, and yet BAM has done, and is likely to do, very little until the Event Centre saga is resolved. (BAM denies waiting it out.)
The legislation and political will simply aren’t there to compel construction firms to build amidst a housing crisis, though BAM will be forced to pay a 3% levy under the Residential Zoned Land Tax. Given the revenues they’re making elsewhere, that’s likely not much of a hit.
Elsewhere, the National Children’s Hospital had its completion date moved back (again). According to the head of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB), the body responsible for building the new children’s hospital, in remarks expected to the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee, “This further delay is a cause of great frustration. We acknowledge that the hospital is progressing, but BAM’s pace is insufficient to meet the 30th June deadline it committed to.”
So long, Robo trees: The five city-centre robo-trees, installed at a cost of €350,000 in 2021, were removed this past weekend. Sadly missed, they are largely not.
As Donal O’Keefe, writing in The Echo, noted, the project was championed by David Joyce, then the city council’s director of operations. Joyce told the paper that while the trees had not worked as well as the council had expected, they had not been a waste of money.
The City Council told us that the overall cost for the "trees" came to €444,000—that included installation, operation, and maintenance.
A spokeswoman added: “One of the key findings of the data collected by the ‘City Trees’ has been to confirm that the background air quality in Cork city centre is good in terms of Particulate Matter (PM) i.e. the levels of PM matter in the atmosphere is low. This finding is also supported by 15 Cork City Council-operated air quality monitors located throughout the city and suburbs.
Cllr Dan Boyle, outgoing Green Party Lord Mayor, told The Echo that it was "no disgrace"winding up the project (arguably, if you’re using "disgrace", you’ve lost that battle), adding that "[similar] experimentation that’s happened throughout Europe has been rowed back in several locations… and the conclusion has been reached that they don’t suit the purpose that was hoped for."
It’s probably worth considering when they were installed (during the pandemic) to try and explain why they were installed, as per the Moss Wall Evaluation Report from 2023:
The Council was anxious that, as part of our response to reopening the City, we created more pleasant outdoor spaces for our residents, workers and visitors and ensured that the public felt welcome and safe in the City again.
What’s interesting is that no other local authority in Ireland was brave - or stupid? - enough to install “robo-trees”. At least it all ends in more public seating, as the Council confirmed they’re working with the UCC/MTU Joint Cork Centre for Architectural Education (CCAE) to explore repurposing the structures, with seating and planting around them coming down the line.
Climate cocktail: What do the following have in common? AECOM, Agent 4 Change, AIB, Barclays, Collins Aerospace, Cork City Council, Cork Zero Waste, Education for Sustainability, Fzin Coffee, UCD, Hometree, Jacobs Engineering, Munster Rugby, Optien, RKD, SEAI, St Luke's, The Environment Forum, Treemetrics, UCC, Wilderway.
Turns out this cocktail of big biz, big ed, finance, deadly weapons, a local authority, and a rugby club isall part of the Climate Cocktail Club, which rolls into the Pav next week for a night of curated rulebook-tearing up.
Presented by the Climate Cocktail Club, "Cork #4 - Climate Rebels" promises to be "bold, disruptive,and unapologetically urgent". The four-hour event includes fireside chats, rebel stories, and a panel with rebels on it (the Cork leg is nothing if not rebel-heavy). It's also, according to its own hype, "thebest of a (sic) night out in Cork, but with all the sustainability jazz hands you can throw in for good measure!"
And yes, there will be cocktails - Diageo is a sponsor, and you'd probably need them after three hours of all that boldness and disruption.
Cork harbour commuter ferry, no really: The news this week that HarbourLink, a private Cork-based firm, plans to start a commercial ferry service in the harbour (and have it operational by 2027) did feel like a little April Fool’s throwback. The idea is brilliant, and not new, so the sceptics among us will surely be asking: will it happen?
The 17-stop service would be served by four fully electric, zero-emission catamarans. Aidan Coffey, the man with the plan at HarbourLink, estimates the operation would cost somewhere between €60m and €80m. One reason to be sceptical is the docking infrastructure, which is clearly not there at many of the stops. However, according to the Irish Examiner, Coffey plans to address this as the “proposed stops can be floated into place and fixed there with relatively little landside disruption.”
The Examiner also noted that “HarbourLink has had discussions with Cork City and County Councils and with the Port of Cork about its plans, and Mr Coffey said all have been very supportive.”
If we remember correctly, there have also been talks with the City Council for a lido in the Lee, and they too were described as supportive. If that project ever gets off the ground (wrong metaphor), Coffey’s catamarans will have to go extra-slow as they pass the swimmers. But here’s hoping they make it happen, make it affordable, and make it link up with the Cork Luas!
In bloom: Parts of The Lough were covered in algae this week as the fountains failed and the prolonged dry weather led to the bloom. The fountains were back working, and parts of the algae had cleared from the western side.
Out + About
Limerick’s Laura Duff released her debut album ‘Sea Legs’ today, and performs around Ireland for the album launch tour. She’s in Plugd on Sunday night, with support from Clare singer songwriter Fiona O’Connell. Tickets are available here.
Time, date, place: 7pm, Sunday May 25, Plugd, Cornmarket Street, Cork.
Huun Huur Tu, the band who let the world know about Tuvan throat singing, are in Cork as part of their European tour, with two gigs in the county. They’re performing in Leap on Thursday 29th, while they play Live at St. Luke’s in the city on Friday 30th. Tickets for Connolly’s here and Live at St. Luke’s here.
Time, date, place: 7:30pm, Thursday May 29, Connolly’s of Leap, Friday May 30, Live At St. Luke’s, Summerhill North, Cork.
The short film-focused Fastnet Film Festival returns to Schull in West Cork. The festival brings Barry Keoghan, Aidan Gillen, Nicola Coughlan, Lenny Abrahamson and Domhnall Gleeson to the Mizen Peninsula this weekend for 28 different screenings and events taking place in the village’s Harbour Hotel, Holy Trinity Church, Church of Ireland Hall and Parish Hall. See the full programme here.
Time, date, place: Wednesday May 21 - Sunday May 25, Schull.
Legendary American drone metal band Earth perform in The Pav tonight, presented by Tinnitis Promotions. They are supported by Spanish-born Scotland-based Maud the Moth, who performs a dark, gothic piano-based music. Tickets are available here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Friday May 24, The Pav, Carey’s Lane, Cork.
Tales from the ocean: Over at Cafe Myo today, there’s a good old-fashioned storytelling event to tie in with all things marine. A navy captain will be joined by a fisherman and a fisherwoman who will talk about the place the ocean has in their life, with Q&A last thrown in. Free to attend, first come first serve. More info here.
Time, date, place: Doors open 7pm, runs from 8-9pm, Friday May 23, Cafe Myo, Pope’s Quay
The Triskel hosts three piano recitals as part of MTU PianoFest. Today’s recital features the young students Yoki He, Orlaith O’Sullivan and Martin Chavdarov performing Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Debussy and Ravel. Tickets available here, these recitals take place once a week over the next three weeks.
Time, date, place: 1pm, Friday May 24, The Triskel, Tobin Street, Cork.
Cork Harbour Festival gets underway this weekend with plenty of events around the harbour. Highlights include the replica of the 17th century Galeón Andalucía ship, and an exhibition celebrating currach construction and Meitheal Mara in the Quay Coop. See the full programme here.
Time, date, place: Friday May 24 - Monday June 2, Around Cork Harbour.
Market Gallery’s latest exhibition is all about Cork, (literally the name of the exhibition) and features work showcasing some of the city and county’s well-known and not as well-known landmarks in a range of styles and mediums. All About Cork features works from Noel O’ Callaghan, Eileen Collins, Helen Condon, Theresa Cullinane, Maria O’Donoghue, Tom Herdman, Emma Jacobs, Tetiana Milshyna, Catherine McSweeney, Valerie Murphy, Marie McInerney, Jean-Francois Turbide, Ursula Walsh, and Yekal Art.
Time, date, place: Daily until June 22, Market Gallery, Douglas Shopping Centre
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 maritime weekend.