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13/11/2024

At this week’s City Council meeting, Cllr Michelle Gould of Sinn Féin called for an amendment to a motion proposed by Cllr Joe Kavanagh of Fine Gael. So far, so very City Council-esque.

Specifically, she wanted the term VQ removed from her City Council colleague’s motion and replaced with the words MacCurtain Street.

The Fine Gael Councillor’s motion had very little to with history or geography, and all to do with policing and public safety. But everything is historical and political.

Ultimately, Cllr’s Gould’s contribution triggered a vote.

Local democracy in action can be hard to follow, and certainly for onlookers this was a case in point. But, council proceedings, convoluted and meandering as they can be, do reflect opinions from the street. In this case, MacCurtain Street. And beyond.

The debate around MacCurtain Street, or more to the point how the VQ has become a stand-in for the area, has been broiling over for some time, but it found an anchor with the establishment of the VQ, a lobby group comprised of businesses based around MacCurtain Street on the city’s Northside. Since then, it’s not uncommon to see and hear the “VQ” as a catchall term used for MacCurtain Street and the streets around it.

The Victorian Quarter even pops up on Google Maps. Some people say it with an eye roll, while others refuse to use the term altogether. But there are those on the council who want the association of “VQ” with the area around MacCurtain Street consigned to history, much like Queen Victoria herself..

“I feel it is a disgrace that a name can become official without ever being proposed, voted on or passed by Cork City Council, particularly when the original name has so much significance,” Cllr Michelle Gould told T+D. She was referring to Tomás MacCurtain, the former Lord Mayor of Cork and Sinn Féin politician, after whom the street is named, who was killed by the Royal Irish Constabulary.

Full story on T+D.

08/11/2024

Art, tunes, lectures, it’s all happening this weekend.

With a lot more in the Friday View! Go have a nose on Tripe + Drisheen.

07/11/2024

When renowned theatre company Corcadorca staged their final production in 2022, it not only meant that the city of Cork was suddenly without its most prolific and pioneering theatre troupe, it also meant the additional closure of their development centre on Tobin Street, which was an invaluable facility to theatre makers based across the city and beyond.

This past year however has seen the formation of a new company, (CTC), who have taken up residence in the space vacated by Corcadorca in the Triskel Arts Centre, and they have been busy assessing the theatre scene and gaining feedback from artists across the entire county.

Led by artistic director Leigh Hussey, CTC is a development theatre initiative funded by the Arts Council of Ireland and Cork City Council aimed at supporting the development of theatre artists based in Cork through residencies and financial supports.

This week T+D spoke with Leigh and producer Sinéad Gallagher about the theatre landscape in Cork, the upcoming work in progress event called SHOW and what else might lie in store for CTC in the year ahead.

“Having met with lots of artists in the city, many of them talked about the loss of Corcadorca and especially the loss of the TDC as a space. It’s how a lot of people got their start in theatre in Cork.”

“It was sad to see the loss of a theatre company here,” Hussey added.

“As well as that, people talked a lot about the use of tech, because other rehearsal spaces in the city simply don’t have these facilities.”

Full story on T+D.

07/11/2024

Photo dump!

Who has spotted these around the city? They’re part of the new ‘City Wayfinding Scheme’, designed to make the city easier to navigate for tourists, with detailed location maps and information of what lies within walking or cycling distance. It precedes a decluttering exercise that the council will undertake in the coming months (we’ll see about that).

What do we make of them?

01/11/2024

What’s this popping up on Coal Quay? A sneak preview of the new City Wayfinding Scheme?

01/11/2024

Recovering from Jazz and Halloween? If not, here’s our picks of what to do in Cork this weekend!

All in this week’s Friday View

31/10/2024

Lovely local story on T+D this lunchtime from Pádraig O’Connor. Support independent local journalism if you can.

When I stepped into new dressmaking shop on Watercourse Road in Blackpool last week, Pam was hunched over a small table and busy altering a very official looking jacket.

“It belongs to an officer who works in the prison,” she said smiling. “He needed a few changes made to the sleeves.”

I took a seat across from Pam and began by asking her about her new venture, but already something else had caught her eye.

“You’ve had the legs of your trousers let down.”

“I have, well spotted,” I said. “My mother did it for me. She has a sewing machine at home that belonged to my grandmother.”

“Yes, it’s very common for it to run in the family,” she said, “But that wasn’t the case for me.”

So how did Pam end up opening her own dressmaking and alterations business on the northside of Cork city?

Despite her European surname, Moretti is originally from Sao Paulo in Brazil and moved to Cork in February 2017 with her partner Rafael, as they both wanted to study English.

“There’s a massive Italian community in Sao Paulo and my grandfather was from there, so that’s where my name comes from.”

The couple decided to move to Ireland seven years ago, but opted against relocating to Dublin because of how expensive it is to live there. They also knew that there’s a strong Brazilian community in the capital city and didn’t want to be surrounded by people speaking Portuguese all the time. So Cork they felt, was the next best option.

Full story on T+D

30/10/2024

Gloves are off! While we’ve never been a fan of ALL CAPS HEADLINES, we’ll make an exception for this one from the Gript in their bid to take Murphy down a peg or two. In fairness to the historical oracles over there, they’re never happy so it’s keeping with their brand.

25/10/2024

Bumper Out + About this week for you know what…

Loads happening around town, both on the official and unofficial lineup, and we’ve put together a list of some of the coolest things to check out!

All in this week’s BUMPER FRIDAY VIEW

24/10/2024

Tramore Valley Park is a hidden gem in Cork,” says Graham Mulhearne of , a new food truck based in the old city dump, transformed to the city’s biggest park and managed by The Glen Resource and Sports Centre.

Graham, together with his business partner Peter O’Keefe opened their new venture on the last weekend of September, and suffice to say, it’s been a challenging few weeks for all involved, especially operating outdoors.

“Well like anything in this country, it’s really weather dependent. In the four weekends we’ve been up and running, we’ve had three weather warnings and a storm, but luckily the people coming to the truck have been really amazing and supportive.”

While owning his own business is nothing new as the Waterford-native previously ran a successful marketing company; it was never his intention to stay in that line of work forever. Instead he harboured a much different ambition and it was his involvement in a family business as a teenager, which had the greatest influence on his recent career change.

“I loved working in my aunt’s supermarket growing up and would’ve worked in retail for years after that, but I always wanted to get into food and have a delicatessen because of being in my aunt’s shop.”

Full story on T+D.

22/10/2024

Tour de headlines: Cork Event Centre Edition.

Perhaps, all the Event Centre was meant to ever amount to was an expensive stream of endless headlines.

Former City Council chief exec Ann Doherty said she’d be sitting in the Event Centre by 2026. That seems about as likely as her sitting in the Oval Office ever; the Tanaiste never tires of talking about the will to build it, and all that’s left is for the Echo and CorkBeo to out-headline each other WITH THAT PHOTO.

It’s like the Children’s Hospital except without actually ever building anything.

18/10/2024

Getting ready for jazz, or avoiding it? If you’re doing the latter, why not check out what’s on this weekend instead?

It’s all in this week’s Friday View!

17/10/2024

T+D goes to Oileán Chléire.

As I was scribbling down a few notes outside the newly reopened library on Cape Clear on Tuesday morning, a local man dressed in a pair of navy overalls approached me from the side, without me even noticing. “Red tape,” he said. “That’s appropriate. Because there was a lot of red tape to go through to finally get this on our island.”

I looked up at the ceremonies being conducted outside the new facility and could see the Mayor of County Cork Cllr Joe Carroll was getting ready to cut the ribbon to officially reopen the building.

“But it’s fantastic for the island,” the man continued. “It might be small, but for a place like this, it means a lot more than you could imagine.”

I put my notebook away. “Ye got a great day for it,” I said.

“We might get a burst of rain yet” he replied, while looking up at the sky.

“And how was the summer?” I asked. “Was it busy down here?”

“It wasn’t bad now. We’d plenty of visitors, but sure there’s no place for them to stay. That’s the one big problem we have here. There’s no accommodation for anyone and it’s impossible to get planning. We’ve been trying to see about Gateway Housing, but it hasn’t got the go ahead.”

Gateway Housing is an initiative which aims to provide affordable houses to families who’d like to move to the island on a trial basis. The houses would be owned by the island but would, some people believe, help encourage new people to come and live here. The scheme would also help prevent property on the island being purchased solely for the purpose of holiday homes and then lying vacant for most of the year.

“Living here is a way of life. It can be difficult at times, but you’d want to be here when the waves are crashing against the shore and there’s a mist overhead. There are sounds of nature here that you don’t get in other places.”

“Tá draíocht ar oileán. There’s magic on an island,” the man said and he repeated it again in Irish for emphasis. “Come on, we’ll go inside for a few sandwiches.”

Full story on T+D. Subscribe if you can to support independent journalism

12/10/2024

Some movement finally on the derelict houses on the Rochestown Rd that have been boarded up and empty since the Celtic Tiger hot mess. There is currently no listing for them on the auction site that’s selling them, but the fact that they have been empty for so long proves that our system for bringing derelict houses to market is not really fit for purpose, and that legislators (politicians) are not doing enough.

11/10/2024

Looking for something to do this weekend? Here’s your guide! All in this week’s Friday view!

11/10/2024

The Friday View photo dump! Main image by

Solar farms are popping up around the county, dead phone boxes are coming down and the new chief executive of the City Council starts next week. Plus, our round-up of what to do for the week ahead.

Also, make sure you check out the new Marymount 2025 calendar with artwork from and 11 other artists who volunteered their services. Beautiful calendar. Details of how to order in FV and at Marymount website.

10/10/2024

The parable of the prodigal son is an ancient tale of loss and redemption between a father and his two sons; with the role of the father signifying God, the elder son an honest way of life and the younger son representing the lost soul or sinner.

In Cónal Creedon’s darkly comic retelling of this story ‘After Luke’, God happens to be an avid bingo player, whose eldest son keeps hens and fixes broken down cars, while his youngest son dreams of making lots of easy money and getting with some even easier “Soho sluts”.

Suffice to say then, the three protagonists are a quirky family unit, living somewhere on the northside of Cork city in and around the start of the Celtic Tiger. And with no mother figure present, the two sons fight like a pair of starved animals over the few scraps of food thrown to them by their owner. Except in this case, the scraps are emotional tidbits as Sonny and Maneen have to vie for the attention and understanding of their closed off Dadda.

Full review on T+D now. ‘After Luke’ runs until October 13

08/10/2024

Is di Marina or de Marina? Either way it’s looking deadly!!!!🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🚲🚲🚲🚲🏃🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️🚶🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️🐶🐕🦮🌲🌴🌳🌳🌸🌺🌷🌻🌼🥀🌹 mighty work from and co

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The moment 16-year-old Aideen Mullins from Ballyphehane won her first senior Irish Title in kickboxing in Clonmel last night: we interviewed Aideen as she prepared for this fight, article here: https://tripeanddrisheen.substack.com/p/fighting-for-a-class

Uilleann piping at the Well, Glen River Park, Cork

Piping at the Well! Composer Brian Leach at Glen River Park; Brian is one of six artists working on a big, exciting project for the Northside Cork city amenity. Tonight, instead of our Long Read, we meet up with the artists. Out soon! Please subscribe to support our local, ad-free, independent journalism if you can.

Lovely video by Noel Sweeney, who visited the Beara Peninsula to tell the story of Dursey cable car, which is now set for a massive upgrade. Read this Long Read and others on www.tripeanddrisheen.substack.com or get our stories delivered direct to your email inbox if you sign up or subscribe! Feel free to share and help us spread the word about our quality local reporting in Cork city and county.

Mayfield Men's Shed

Mayfield Men's Shed have over 35 members....but they still don't have a permanent location! Noel Sweeney interviewed members for his feature in our print edition - see our pinned post for stockists!

Our print run has arrived! Tomorrow we unveil the cover and publish a list of stockists! Yay

Tomorrow morning, our Arts + Culture Jazz Festival podcast special is a conversation with the fascinating Karen Underwood: it's an unmissable and candid interview that you'll love. A little teaser here:

This Thursday we have a special story for you.....

WHAT'S EATING IRISH FISHERMEN? In May, Cork people might remember the flotilla of 60 fishing vessels that made their way up the Lee so that a letter of protest could be delivered to Micheál Martin's constituency office. For this Thursday's Long Read, photographer and freelance journalist Noel Sweeney visited with West Cork fishermen to find out what's at stake: lives, livelihoods, fish populations, the health of the ocean? Get it in your inbox tomorrow evening, with stunning images by Noel too: we're happy to have him aboard. If you like our independent, quality, in-depth local journalism, please subscribe for just €8 per month. https://tripeanddrisheen.substack.com Or if you're broke, sign up for free but like and share to help us grow.

Guess who our intrepid reporter caught up with on the streets of #Cork just now - the underpanted philanthropist ⁦Speedomick who has 750 miles of walking tour of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales under his emmm....belt. A fine tan!