The Friday View 24/01
While we’re still figuring out how to pronounce Storm Éowyn, it certainly made its presence felt. We take a look at the Firemen’s Rest (and its cost), along with our guide to what’s on.
Good morning. It’s windy out there. Welcome to the Friday View.
According to a press release from Cork County Council released this morning, trees down right across the county and power outages for more than 20,000 homes and businesses across the county. A status Orange Wind warning will be in place until 4.00pm this afternoon with severe, damaging and destructive gusts forecast. Stay safe!
Putting a price on history: The Firemen’s Rest and Busmen’s Hut is nearly complete after a year-long restoration which saw the hut removed (rescued) from a City Council yard in Fitzgerald’s Park and installed outside the firestation on Angelsea St., a nod to its original use as a firemen’s rest. We’ve covered the hut in detail, and let us start by saying, the restoration looks great. Genuinely, it does.
That element was missing from the segment on the Opinion Line when producer Paul Byrne revealed the total cost of the restoration was €326,550 which came via a Freedom of Information request. Earlier figures via requests from Cllr Peter Horgan (Labour) had signalled the cost was north of €200k.
Quick recap of the hut via our long read from nearly three years ago:
The hut has a charmingly complex and (mostly) co-operative history. It’s been used and shared by workers from Cork Electric Tramways and Lighting Company, the city’s fire fighters and then by workers from CIÉ, who passed it on to Bus Éireann who used it right up until it was removed in 2002.
As Pat Poland, a retired fire fighter and historian, outlines in his wonderful books For Whom the Bells Tolled: A History of Cork Fire Services 1622 – 1900 and The Old Brigade: The Rebel City’s Firefighting Story 1900 – 1950, the ‘Firemen’s Rest’ (which eventually became the bus driver’s ‘hut’) was first placed at the junction of Grand Parade and Great George’s Street (which is now Washington Street). The ‘Rest’ was made in Glasgow in 1892, and when it was installed in Cork it had the distinction of having one of the few functioning telephones in the city. It was built on a budget of £60.
Naturally enough the significant price tag was what Opinion Line host PJ Coogan, Byrne and his guests zeroed in on. As was outlined on the show, had the ‘hut’ been stored indoors, it might have been in better condition when it came to restoring it. It also doesn't help that the Council have’t released a full picture of the restoration costings. They should when the project is finally complete.
On the Opinion Line, Coogan suggested that a much cheaper option could have been to get a shed from Hanleys of Cork which sells garden sheds. He’s dead right. But also, what, why??? so many questions there on that one.
There are always ways of doing things cheaper, as in getting AI to transcribe quotes, such as this one from newly-elected TD Kenneth O’Flynn who gave his reaction to the cost of the restoration job on the Opinion Line:
"This is exactly the same rubbish that we saw in Leinster House before the general election, which is the bicycle shed of 336,000. If you look across the way from the bicycle shed, there's the e-charging machines that are there to charge the electrical cars, which the car spaces. in the last month and a half that I've been inside in the Doyle have been empty 90% of the time. And this is exactly the same, 300,000 for something the size of a shed.
Likewise, Cllr Peter Horgan (Labour) has been critical of the total cost, but he did grant that it is a a nice historical piece, it’s not really usable.
But, it could very well be. Now that it’s once more a part of the city’s fabric, it could be used to tell the story of its place in the city’s social history. The inaugural Cork Fringe Festival could put a play in there. It could be used to host a trad session on Culture Night or during the Folk Festival, or failing all that, as a place to wait for the the numbers 206, 207, 220, 216 and the many other buses that stop right outside on Anglesea St. Or are meant to when they come on time. Long live the hut/Rest.
There be BIG carp in the Lough: The next time someone tells you there’s no fish in the Lough, you show the carp Amy O’Brien hauled out last summer. For that she was awarded the Dr Arthur Went Award by the Irish Specimen Fish Committee for the 9.07kg carp she fished out of the freshwater lake on the Southside of the city on July 3 2024. The Irish Specimen Fish 2024 can be viewed in full here.
Order, order: Turner’s Cross native and leader of Fianna Fáil, Micheál Martin was elected Taoiseach for the second time yesterday, and at the second time of asking, or trying. But, it was not before a great deal of controversy amid chaotic scenes in which the Opposition banded together to prevent members of the new government from also ensuring they get opposition time in the Dáil (not Doyle!;). Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy, who is a member of the Regional grouping supporting the government, looked about as capable as a carp on the Glasheen Road, and so the day one ended without the nomination of a Taoiseach. It was back to business on day two and Martin had his moment recounting his fond days of growing up in Turners Cross, before a quick trip across Dublin with his family to be sworn in by President Michael D. Higgins at the Áras, and then like everyone else, settling in and waiting for Storm Éowyn to pass.
More closures: Frankie’s Pizza (pictures above) has announced its closure after two years in business. In an Instagram post, they wrote “It’s with great sadness and a heavy heart that we have decided to no longer continue with Frankie’s. We’re extremely proud of what we’ve achieved in such a short time giving it our all to serve quality pizza to the public of Cork.” Frankie’s had been operating in the Kiosk in the Peace Park since 2023, offering Roman, New York and Detroit style slices.
Elsewhere, Natural Food Bakery has closed up shop in Fitzgerald’s Park. They opened at the back of the Public Museum facing the river Lee in 2015. CorkBeo reports that the City Council will issue a tender for the takeover of the site. Their second outlet, Natural Food Bakery at Blackrock Pier, remains open.
The final hurdle: There was disappointment on the banks of the Glashaboy this week as Riverstown’s Sarsfields lost the All Ireland Club Hurling Final to Dublin’s Na Fianna. Sars had the game’s earliest chance when Jack O’Connor went for goal instead of opting for a point, but a few poor wides and good points to Na Fianna saw Sars eight points behind after fifteen minutes. Aaron Myers was a standout player for Sars, scoring half of their points, while Jack O’Connor scored five points. But the gap only widened as the game went on, and although Sars improved, the Glasnevin side beat the Munster Champions 2-23 to 20 points in the end.
Out + About
Limerick singer-songwriter Emma Langford blends Irish folk with modern sounds, with lyrics that play into folklore and history. She performs in Mitchelstown on Saturday, at St. George’s Arts Centre. Tickets are available here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Saturday January 25, St. George’s Arts and Heritage Centre, George Street, Mitchelstown.
Tetiana Milshyna is an artist and art teacher from Kyiv, who brought more than 200 of her watercolours with her to Cork at the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Between Sea and Light is an exhibition of of 20 paintings of Irish lighthouses up to now, done in watercolour and gouache both in studio and plein air. As part of Sample’s Studios of Sanctuary, Milshyna is exhibits the series while carrying out a residency in the Triskel Sample Project Space. More information here.
Time, date, place: Friday January 10 - Tuesday February 4, Triskel-Sample Studio Space, Tobin Street, Cork.
Singer-songwriter John Blek has been described by the Irish Times as “Ireland's best kept secret”, with an emotive voice and playing layered fingerstyle guitar. He performs a selection of his at Prim’s Bookshop in Kinsale on Sunday, tickets and more information here.
Time, date, place: 7:15pm, Sunday January 26, Prim’s Bookshop, Main Street, Kinsale.
Small Works, Studies for Atlantes is an intimate exhibition showcasing small-scale, figurative stone sculptures, each drawing from the Atlantes figures. It exhibits at the Blackwater Valley Makers Gallery in Fermoy from this month until the end of February.
Time, date, place: Friday January 17 - Friday February 28, Blackwater Valley Makers Gallery, MacCurtain Street, Fermoy.
Steams Dreams is a night of jungle music and drum and bass in Dali. This weekend’s lineup features Galway DJ Stella, DNB and UK Bass enthusiast Bekko, B2B, Knomrack and Steam Lite, all hosted by Ophelia. Tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Friday January 24, Dali, Lavitt’s Quay, Cork.
The suburb’s newest art gallery, Market Gallery in Douglas Shopping Centre, has a new exhibition opening next Thursday, January 30. PULP: Works With Paper is a group show exclusively focused on works produced on paper, or which incorporate paper in inventive ways. Think origami, collages papier mache sculpture and much else. More information here.
Time, date, place: Official launch 6-8pm Thursday January 30, Market Gallery, Douglas Shopping Centre.
Feeling smart? Douglas Street Business Association are hosting a quiz tonight, Friday 24, in the Gables bar on Douglas Street. Proceeds go to the local group which are behind the highly successful street festival every autumn.
Time, date, place: 7:30pm, The Gables, 32 Douglas Street
The quaint sounding Lord Mayor’s Tea Dance returns this weekend with LM Dan Boyle hosting an afternoon of Viennese classics, big band numbers and the latest dance floor hits featuring Evelyn Grant (Lyric FM), Cork Pops Orchestra, Keith Hanley from the Voice of Ireland and special guest Emma Sophia. Tickets and more information here.
Time, date, place: 3:00 pm, Sunday January 26, City Hall.
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.
