🌸The Friday View 24/02
A new mural recalls the building of Capwell Road in Turners Cross. Also, there’s a second rail line to Midleton in the works, plus our picks for what to see and hear in the week to come.
Hello and welcome to The Friday View on Tripe + Drisheen. Thanks for subscribing and please help spread the word.
Cork-based artist and art teacher Peter Martin has immortalised two students from Colaiste Chríost Rí in a new mural in Turners Cross. (It’s located on the side of the building next to the Credit Union by the Cross). The two figures are based on a pair of Chríost Rí students who took the cue for their pose from an old photograph dated to the 1930s featuring two builders (or construction workers to use twenty-first century prose).
Peter’s painting captures the building of Capwell Road, a route synonymous with buses and Capwell bus depot. The mural also highlights the role of Philip Monahan, a fascinating public figure who was hugely influential in the rebuilding of Cork following the destruction wrought on the city during the War of Independence, the Civil War and the Burning of Cork.
A Dubliner born on Lower Baggot Street in 1893, Monahan clashed with everyone from Michael Collins to Éamon de Valera (he was interned with Collins in Frongoch, Wales). Somehow Monahan survived being shot through the neck in a battle between Free State and anti-treaty forces while stationed in Drogheda. After the war, he came to local government in Cork via Kerry and by many accounts he was ruthless, autocratic and didactic. He earned the title of City Manager in 1929 and was fearless in taking on corruption, fat cats, craft unions and the fire brigade. You can’t imagine a figure who cut a path like the one Monahan did would have many friends. This paragraph from his biography by Terry Clavin reveals much about Monahan:
Sparing and blunt both when speaking and writing, he socialised rarely, partly to avoid being lobbied for jobs and favours. Impervious to all such solicitations, he hired through the Labour Exchange and recruited clerical staff by their leaving certificate results. A pungent, occasionally impetuous, controversialist, he courted publicity by publishing his adversarial correspondence with vested interests, by scouring the streets and upbraiding idle corporation workers, and by holding one-man meetings before the press where he announced decisions and highlighted his elimination of waste. For all his practised severity, he was more pragmatic and considered in private, and also rather urbane, showing flashes of mordant wit.
So what, you might ask, does Peter Martin’s newly painted Capwell mural have to do with Peter Monahan? Well, you might be able to see the houses in the background of Martin’s mural. Monahan pushed for them to be built, diverting “funds earmarked for new municipal offices towards building 468 houses at Capwell and Turners Cross during 1926–31”. But even here, the scheme was not without controversy. “In accordance with government policy, these purchase-only schemes provided for the better off and neglected the slums.” History shows us that our housing policies have never not been uncontroversial. Also, I’m not on firm ground on this one and I’m not a betting man, but I’d put a fiver on Monahan Road down by the Marina being named after the former City Manager.
Philip Monahan: A Man Apart : the Life and Times of Ireland's First Local Authority Manager by Aodh Quinlivan, a former City Council worker and now at UCC, gives a much fuller account of the city’s first ever manager.
Peter’s painting was commissioned by Turners Cross Community Association with funding from the City Council’s commemoration fund. What would Monahan make of that?
News in brief
Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) issued tender documents this week for a second rail line on the East Cork corridor, the only bit of extant rail line in the entire east of the county. The project, expected to be completed in 2026, will see a second 10km line between Glounthane and Midleton. This matters for a few reasons. With a second line, Irish Rail will be able to the increase frequency of trains serving the city and Midleton and towns in between both points. The Irish Examiner reports that “the twin track could increase frequency on the Glounthane/Midleton line from 30 minutes to ten minutes, enabling up to six trains per hour per direction, up from the current two.”
As we wrote in T+D last summer, towns like Carrigtwohill are in line for a major population increase and so spending on critical infrastructure such as public transport makes sense, especially if the city and county are going to meet sustainability targets. The tendering for a second line comes as the government announced last month that upgrades to the N25 (road) between Carrigtwohill and Midleton have been postponed as they figure out finances. The dual carriageway carries about 40,000 cars a day.
Tweet of the week: Skellig Lists
This tweet, from Dr Clodagh Tait, which dates back to 2020, resurfaced this week (the internet never forgets!), but the practise of “Skellig Lists” that she describes dates back centuries. Dara Gee writing in the blog Modern Books and Manuscripts describes Skellig Lists as “a poem pairing up local bachelors and unmarried women, giving the subjects false names; but they were easily identifiable to local residents, given their age and physical descriptions (flattering or insulting), how long they have been unmarried, street of residence, and other personal details.”
The Skellig in the name refers to Skellig Michael off the coast of Kerry where couples could decamp to and marry.
Out + About
🎤Dubliner Christine Tobin will be at the Triskel next week touring her twelfth album “Returning Weather.” No stranger to Cork, Christine performed at Masters of Tradition in Bantry House in 2021. The new album features violinist Cora Venus Lunny, David Power on uilleann pipes and whistles, Phil Robson on guitar electronics and Steve Hamilton on piano. Now living in Roscommon, the songs on “Returning Weather” are set in the countryside around Frenchpark, Boyle and Ballaghadereen. Tickets and more information here for the Triskel gig .
Time, date, place: 8pm, Friday March 3, The Triskel Arts Centre
🪴The community gardeners at St Luke’s Garden will be planting a native hedgerow this Saturday on the site of the former quarry. The last time T+D were up was the end of summer and blackberries were in abundance. Since then they’ve rooted out the buddleja and in its plave will be putting in a hedgerow this weekend. As well as planting there’ll be a bit of craic and refreshments; they are a welcoming bunch. Bring gloves for those who plan on pitching in.
Time, date, place: 10am, Sunday February 26, St Luke’s Community Garden, Ballyhooly Road
🚲It’s that time of the month: The Republic of Bike are back with iBop, a colourful and musical group cycle around the city. As per usual, the meeting place is Grand Parade and cyclists and passengers of all ages are welcome for the leisurely cycle around town.
Time, date, place: 2pm, Sunday February 26, Grand Parade
🎶If you’re at or nearby UCC today around lunchtime it’s worth dropping by the Aula Maxima where flautist Eilís O’Sullivan and guitarist Jerry Creedon will be performing as part of the Fuaim lunchtime concert series. Their recital will take in the music of four continents and includes music from Bela Bartok, Astor Piazzolla, Jacques Ibert, Isaac Albeniz and Carlo Domeniconi. Free to attend, more information here.
Time, date, place: 1:10pm, Friday February 24, Aula Maxima, UCC
🖼The Crawford will be holding a special free gallery tour this coming Sunday of RADHARC: Perspectives in Print. For Radharc, the Irish word for view, the Crawford has helpfully put all the signage in Irish and English and this Sunday’s tour will be conducted as Gaeilge. I was by the small but significant exhibition recently and there are some beautiful prints on show. Billy Lingwood, a graduate of the Limerick School of Art and Design will be the tour guide. Billy specialises in printmaking brining a unique perspective to the tour of Crawford’s print collection. Bain súp as! More information here.
Time, date, place: 2pm, The Sculpture Gallery, The Crawford Art Gallery, Emmet Place
🎹Sam Healy will be the guest musician at the Kabin in Holyhill this evening. The Kabin is a community venue and musicians and singers of all ages and abilities are invited to drop by and take part in the jam. If you’re on Twitter you can drop the Kabin a line for more details. More information here.
Time, date, place: 6pm-7:30pm, Friday February 24, The Kabin, Harbour View Road, Holyhill
This week on T +D
It’s been a busy week on T+D. On Monday, JJ wrote about a draft map published by Cork City Council identifying land in the city which has been zoned and serviced and which could be liable to a new residential property tax from next year. The list of submitters includes some of the biggest developers in the county as well as religious orders, retailers and Blarney Castle Estate. You can read more about their reasons as to why they shouldn’t be included in the new land tax.
JJ was also on Neil Prenderville on Red FM on Monday morning talking about his long read from last weekend on the past, present and future of St. Patrick’s Street. That piece generated a lot of interest, and understandably so because it’s an historic and symbolic street and it’s failing in parts. Several readers have contacted us about that story and the street, and we’d love to hear your feedback or thoughts. Do drop us a line by all means.
On Tuesday, Ellie wrote about the costly price tag of rebranding Irish Water to Uisce Éireann. It’s €100,000 thus far. Ellie found that information via a Freedom of Information request.
On Wednesday, our news story was about the street with the worst air quality in Cork city. The non-award award went to Lower Road in the city and you can read the full story below.
Our Thursday story was from Summerhill North where residents came out midweek to protest proposed changes as part of BusConnects Cork which could see on-street parking removed and a bus lane added to the busy road. As we reported, the residents are not objecting to the bus lane. However, the removal of on-street parking and the narrowing of footpaths is not going down well.
That’s it for this week’s Friday View. We’re back tomorrow with a long read; we’ll have a break on Sunday for you and your inbox. Any tips, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, you can contact us via our About page here. 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.