The Friday View 31/05
Left or right for the Cork Luas? Barrack St. has a new old bar, jazz heavyweights announced for October and it's student artists exhibition time
There has been considerable discussion in the past week on the new Cork Luas, and the route that it will take. Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan, who was in Cork last week to launch news about the construction of a handful of new railway stations in the city, said that there are “engineering challenges” related to the design, but that he expects a route to be selected this year.
The route is planned to go between Ballincollig in the west and Mahon Point in the east, nipping onto the northside for a bit to stop en route to Kent Station. However, doubt has been cast by Ryan on whether it will stop at Kent Station at all.
“I don’t think there’s a problem. There is a choice. I mean, the real key choice is in terms of do you go southside or northside - do you come across the river into Kent Station?”, the minister told the media.
The issue largely appears to be related to the corner of Patrick Street and Grand Parade, which has a tight angle. Otherwise, the Luas would have to avoid Patrick Street altogether and travel down the South Mall, although it could still be possible for it to reach Kent Station. The NTA initially favoured the latter, while Cork City Council have been pushing for Patrick Street to be included in any plans.
A tram down Washington Street appears to be a certainty, though and it also seems to be clear what route it would take in the east. The plan is to travel down the Centre Park Road to the Marina, where it would link onto the greenway to Mahon. That would probably be a no brainer.
Photomontages released a few years ago appear to confirm this, with images of trams at Blackrock Station. But images released earlier this month suggest that other routes are being explored, with an image recently being released of trams on the Skehard Road, at the junction with Silverdale Drive.
The routes that will be take west of the city are more vague, with no images shared to give us an idea of the routing. However, an indicative route released by the NTA suggests that it would travel from a park & ride facility in Ovens, skirt along the south of Ballincollig before crossing the bypass and heading to MTU.
From there, it would pass through the middle of Bishopstown before reaching CUH, then joining the Wilton Road and heading into the city centre via Victoria Cross and Western Road.
It is difficult to see this route pass without serious opposition. In 2019, a planned bus lane down the Wilton Road, which is one of the busiest roads in the city, was opposed to by local residents. Locals said it would limit parking and restrict visits from family, while claiming “an additional bus lane for 120 metres is not going to make any difference to anyone.”
If there is that much opposition to a couple of metres of front garden being removed, I can’t imagine there would be much openness to a tram. And if the BusConnects saga is anything to go by, this scheme is likely to get a Luas-load of opposition.
We’ll have to wait and see. The indicative route is planned to be released in Autumn.
-KMc
News in brief
Cork to Glanmire cycle scheme phase 2: If you’ve been anywhere near Glanmire in the past few months, you’d know that every inch of the place is being redone. The Glashaboy River Drainage Scheme, Glanmire Roads Improvement Scheme and Glanmire to City Centre Cycle Route (Phase 1) are all under construction, and include flood relief, improved pedestrian facilities, and traffic lights. Significantly, it includes a greenway between Riverstown and Glanmire, and a greenway between Glanmire and Dunkettle. The second phase of that last scheme listed, which goes from Dunkettle to Horgan’s Quay, is currently at consultation stage. It includes a steel bridge across the dry dock at McMahons Builders Yard, a span steel bridge crossing the railway just west of Dunkettle roundabout, seating areas and bike parking on Penrose Quay and Horgan’s Quay, a play area within the Port of Cork 2000 Garden, and the relocation of the Cork Coat of Arms artwork the middle of the Tivoli dual carriageway to the Dunkettle roundabout.
Doors closing: The Crawford Art Gallery have been given the green light to advance their renovations and extension to tender, the Echo reported on Tuesday. The gallery will remain open in its current form for only a few more months, closing in August. The redevelopment will then start a few months after. The gallery is essentially getting three new gallery spaces to compliment what it already has, as well as a tower. I dissected the plans when they first came about in my moribund blog over a year ago, link here if you’re interested.
All that jazz: Every year the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival claim to have the biggest and best lineup yet, and it does attract some big names. Last year, Macy Gray, The Pharcyde and Souls of Mischief played in the Opera House. The 2024 edition appears to have the strongest lineup in years - American singer Gregory Porter was the first announcement, and a number of other acts were announced on Thursday, including jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington.
There is a strong African influence on the lineup this year, with Senegalese duo Amadou & Mariam and their compatriots Orchestra Baobab both featuring on the lineup, and all-female supergroup Les Amazones d’Afrique play at Live at St Lukes.
Irish acts will feature too, Mary Coughlan will play in the Everyman and Bricknasty will present ‘The Nasty Sessions’. Mainstays Jenny Greene and Mack Fleetwood also return for their usual craic.
On top of that, there will be a few side events: The Biggest Music Trail, an exhibition at St Peter’s Church, The Big Fringe, The Record Hub, and pop up events.
Moving on: O’Callaghan Properties (OCP) have decided they are done with the large warehouses facing the Lee on Anderson’s Quay after holding them on to them for decades and doing nothing with them. Ostensibly, they are offloading them to concentrate on their big residential and commercial project down river on Kennedy Quay.
Displaying all the self awareness of a Kardashian, The Examiner reported that OCP MD Brian O’Callaghan complained to his buddies at the builders/CIF summit in Cork that the “city’s docklands development was being tied up in lengthy planning appeals.”
Perhaps, but one could argue that Bra et al had lots and lots of time to build at…Anderson’s Quay.
All the news that’s fit to print: Irish Examiner editor Tom Fitzpatrick was on Mick Clifford’s podcast last week to talk about all things related to “de paper” and his route to Blackpool where the paper is currently edited. There were a few interesting takeaways: while Fitzparick didn’t commit to a date when we might not might see a daily print edition of the Examiner he did signal that it’s inevitable. Rival publisher Mediahuis, publishers of The Irish Independent said as much last year. Fitzpatrick talked up the weekend edition, intimating that there’s enough in there to give a few days of reading, as well as the Monday paper which has a good spread of sport. While he didn’t give a timeline, the day’s of daily print editions are numbered.
Perhaps more interestingly was his admission that the Examiner sees RTÉ as its biggest competitor. The broadcaster has a presence in Cork, but only two journalists, and they don’t produce anywhere near as much as The Examiner or plucky upstarts like CorkBeo. Perhaps, what the editor was referring to was that RTÉ doesn’t have to charge for content, which the Examiner and the Irish Times, which owns the paper, do.
Oldest bar in the city reopens this weekend: The Gateway is finally reopening, and under its original name. At last! The return of the…Old Bear? While the new name has left people puzzled, it turns out that that was the first name of the bar after all. At least, that’s according to new proprietor Ernest Horgan, having consulted historians, he told Yay Cork. The new/old spot opens tonight.
Remembering Flicka: Finally, this week we learned of the sad news of the death of Dr. Flicka Small. Flicka, originally from Blackwater in Co. Kerry, was the foremost scholar of all things James Joyce, Cork and cuisine. About this time last year we interviewed Flicka for a piece on T+D about Bloomsday celebrations in Cork, what she loved about Ulysses, and her love for food, not at all surprising as she was a trained chef. May she rest in peace.
Out + About
Lest We Salt the Earth is the name of this year’s Crawford College of Art and Design Fine Art graduate show. Featuring over forty artists, the exhibition opens tonight and runs for a week, until June 6th. You can find out more about the artists at their Instagram page, crawfordfourthyears. The exhibition takes place in the college on Sharman Crawford Street.
Time, date, place: Friday May 31-Thursday June 6, Crawford College of Art and Design, Sharman Crawford Street, Cork.
Fangclub are a grunge and punk rock band from Dublin with a DIY ethos, who’s debut album was released in 2017 and named “one of the best hard rock albums of the year" by the Irish Times. They play in Coughlans this evening, with support from Skies Behind, a local alternative rock band. Tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Friday May 31, Coughlan’s, Douglas Street, Cork.
Ariadne’s Thread is the graduate exhibition of the Crawford College of Art and Design’s Textiles course. It features a variety of textile styles and materials by ten artists, from weaving to crochet to print. Taking place next week, the exhibition runs over ten days from Tuesday June 4th.
Time, date, place: Tuesday June 4-Friday June 14, MTU Gallery, Grand Parade, Cork.
The Cork Harbour Festival begins on Saturday and runs for ten days, culminating with the Ocean to City Race. As part of the festival, Meitheal Mara are organising a Make a Model Boat with Lord Mayor Kieran McCarthy, which runs from June 2nd to the 22nd. As well as that, they have organised a lecture on Wednesday, with the UCC History Department, given by Dr. Máirín MacCarron and titled ‘Cross-Cultural Connections in the Early Medieval Irish Sea’. See the full schedule here.
Time, date, place: Saturday June 1-Monday June 10, Cork Harbour.
They love a festival down in Ballydehob, and this year’s Ballydehob Country Music Festival features Effie Neill, Michael English and Declan Nerney as headliners. Neill plays in the community hall on Friday, English on Saturday, and Nerney on Sunday, while a few other acts will be playing in Rosie’s, the Sandboat, the Irish Whip and O’Briens. Full programme here.
Time, date, place: Friday May 31-Sunday June 2, Ballydehob.
Trio is a troupe of musicians Caroline Fraher, John Daly and Dominic Finn, who have been playing to packed audiences at Sirius Arts Centre for twenty years. This year, they present an Audience of popular songs from different periods, classical songs, and songs from musicals. Tickets and information here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Saturday June 1, Sirius Arts Centre, Westbourne Place, Cobh.
Plenty of craic at Connolly’s of Leap this weekend. Storytelling platform Seanchoíche, who have had a few successful events in the venue, are hosting another one there tonight, with the theme of childhood. On Sunday, the Backstory West Cork Carnival takes place, featuring Ana Palindrome, 9-piece Trá Pháidín, accordionist Seamas Hyland, Ethiopian DJ Hewan Mulugeta and DJ Donal Dineen. Tickets and information for Seanchoiche here and Backstory here.
Time, date, place: 8pm, Friday May 31 and 8pm, Sunday June 2, Connolly’s of Leap.
The Kinship Ecolab is a new community space in Tramore Valley Park for ecological arts, education, events and climate action. It officially opens today, at 1pm, and the ceremony features music from uillean piper Eoin Ó’Riabhaigh and fiddler Johnny McCarthy. It also features speakers John Barron, a master thatcher, EcoLab Architect Seán Ó Muirí, and EcoLab Engineer Kieran Ruane.
Time, date, place: 1pm, Friday May 31, Kinship Ecolab, Tramore Valley Park, Cork.
That’s it for this week’s Friday View. Next week, ahead of the local elections we’ll be publishing Q+As with a selection of the candidates who answered our questions. However, we’ll publish these online, but they won’t be delivered via email as we don’t want to bombard inboxes with more election news. Look for the Local Elections 2024 tab.
As always any tips, comments, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, you can contact us via 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 long weekend.
