The Friday View on Tripe + Drisheen
Our weekly round-up, but we’re changing it up. A little.
Dear Readers - Welcome to the Friday View.
We’ve been trying to think up of a better or more clever name for our Friday View round-up; as you can see, we haven’t. (Any suggestions are welcome). We’ve been thinking of giving the Friday morning newsletter a work over for a while, and this is our first attempt. A work in progress as they say.
As you might know by now, Tripe + Drisheen the magazine is in print, and hopefully our paying subscribers should have received their copy. There’s plenty of stockists around the city and some in the county. We have a full listing at the end of this newsletter. We’ll also be at Blackrock Market this Sunday (November 21), so if you’re around, pop down.
It was lovely meeting readers, new and old, last Saturday on the Coal Quay. While the internet has been a great way to reach readers, it really is so nice meeting readers, hearing stories and explaining what Tripe + Drisheen is to first-timers (not a food magazine “What is Substack?:) Also, we’d love to hear any feedback you may have about the magazine, and likewise any tips, news or suggestions you have for Tripe + Drisheen.
In other news:
Cork City Council passed its budget for 2022 at a sitting of the council and executive last Monday night. It was never in doubt that it would pass, but seven councillors voted against while 24 voted for the budget.
The €240 million budget for 2022 is an increase of €14 million in spending compared to 2020. The city council gets most of its income, 41%, from commercial rates. A few other bits from the budget:
In 2022, the city council will generate more funding from local property tax (LPT) than it will be allowed to keep and spend on current expenditure. The excess €2.95 million will be used for Housing Revenue and Capital services.
Parking charges will increase in the council-owned car parks at Paul Street (€2.30 to €2.70 per hour) and North Main Street (€1.70 to €2.30 per hour) and on-street parking/Park by Phone will increase from €2.00 to €2.50. (No increase in disk parking rates yet).
Congratulations are in order for Cobh which was named one of Ireland’s tidiest towns in the national awards which were announced this week. The harbour town was named as the country’s largest tidy town.
Shalom Park and Fitzgerald’s Park, both in Cork City, were this week awarded Green Flags by An Taisce. Efforts have been made to increase native wildflowers at both parks, to plant pollinator-friendly plants, and stop using pesticides.
Speaking of pesticides, Cork City Council announced this week that for 2022 it will stop using glyphosate except in some cases such as containing Japanese knotweed. We’ve asked around with councillors to find out how and if the ban will apply to contractors, and we’ll update as hear more on this.
Photo of the week
We wrote about the former Debenham’s staff who were on strike for a nearly a full year after the British retail company pulled the plug on its Irish operation just as the pandemic struck. The strike is over, but the building which once housed Roches Stores is a shell on St. Patrick’s Street.
Out and about
🎭 Play: Podcaster and former 2FM DJ Keith Walsh brings his new play “Pure Mental” to the Everyman this Sunday. The play is written and performed by Walsh with direction by Janet Moran. The play focuses on Walsh’s midlife crisis and his journey to reconcile his past and get on with the business of keeping going. Tickets and information here.
🎬 Watch: Cork writer Cethan Leahy’s novel Tuesdays Are Just As Bad has been made into a film by Activate Youth Theatre, based at Graffiti Theatre in Blackpool. The novel and film tell the story of Adam who is taking slack from all sides (he tried to kill himself with a hammer). “Adam had weathered many a terrible Monday, but nothing had prepared him for a post-suicide-attempt haunting by a ghost… hallucination… manifestation…thing…” Streaming online until Sunday November 28. Tickets and information here.
🎧🌳: Rebel Reads will be hosting Tony Langlois on Thursday, November 25 at their base down in the Marina. Tony will talk through his experience of working with community tree nurseries in London and how this could be done in Cork. There’ll also be a demonstration in tree pagination. All welcome. More information here. We will also be selling Trees Please calendars at our stall in Blackrock on Sunday.
📖 If you have a few hours to spare on Tuesday morning and want to flex those creative mussels, Fighting Words Cork, based at Graffiti Theatre Company, is looking for volunteers to illustrate children’s stories. You don’t need any prior illustration experience and it’s for a few hours every couple of weeks. Get in contact with them at cork@fightingwords.ie
🏛 Exhibition: By Every Means At Our Command opens today (November 19) at the Cork Public Museum in Fitzgerald’s Park and the focus is on the fighting between Republicans and Crown forces in Cork during the War of Independence (1919-21). “The exhibition brings to life the stories of some individual men and women in Cork, as well as the events that made the county an arena in which ruthlessness, ingenuity, violence, and bravery combined to devastating effect,” according to Daniel Breen, Curator at Cork Public Museum. More information here.
🖼 Cork artist Niamh Leonard has an exhibition of her distinctive nature-inspired paintings on display in Myo Café on Pope’s Quay: the launch was yesterday evening.
This week on Tripe + Drisheen:
Douglas Village Shopping Centre turns 50 years old this week. Close by the shopping centre local man David Teixeira-Lynch has turned to tech and citizen science to gather data around just how many cars (and cyclists and pedestrians) use just one of the many clogged-up roads in the city suburb. The answer, with cars at least, too many.
The Long Read: The French Connection
Last night’s long read was a continuation of Ellie’s two-part, nuanced examination of the Celtic Interconnector project planned for East Cork. Part one looked at some of the surprising cost implications of the power project, which aims to link Ireland to Brittany with a High Voltage Direct Current undersea cable to allow Ireland to import French power and export offshore wind. While the project is acknowledged as a vital step towards Ireland’s move to renewables, local communities have concerns about electro-magnetic fields that they say have not been fully addressed, while Eirgrid say the project is safe and has no long-term impacts.
Where to buy the print edition of Tripe + Drisheen:
Our seasonal print edition is laden with exclusive stories that you won’t find on the Substack, including investigative work by JJ and Ellie, a lovely food feature and photo spreads as well as opinion writing and local history from our in-house historian James Furey.
Cork city
The Natural Foods Bakery in Blackrock and Fitzgerald’s Park
Soma
Nano Nagle Place
Cork Flower Studio
Plug’d
Bunker Vinyl
Bus Stop Cafe
Rebel Reads
Nano Nagle Place
The Quay Co-op
Lotabeg Stores, Mayfield
Duggan’s, Shandon Street
Iyers Cafe
Snout, Ballincollig
Heritage Pubs Cork (copies to read)
East Cork
Earthway Refill in Midleton
West Cork
West Cafe Bar, Bantry
Organico, Bantry