Michael Moynihan: Cork’s a hard-working city but it can also be quite hard on itself
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The usual knock against the chosen people of Cork is that they view themselves as the chosen people and aren’t afraid to say so.
Guilty, says you.
That sense of a people apart derives in part from Cork’s history and sense of place. Who better to talk to about those topics than a man who’s written 28 books on Cork, has written over 1,100 columns on local history for the and maintains a website (corkheritage.ie) which doubles as a treasure trove of Leeside lore?
Kieran McCarthy described himself first and foremost as “your typical proud Corkonian”, adding: “Over the last twenty years there’s been a growing interest in the city, in its history, in promoting the city.
“I was lucky enough in primary school to have had a teacher who taught us local history, and to have good history teachers in secondary school as well. That’s where my interest comes from.”
McCarthy thought of primary teaching as a career path himself before being diverted into politics and local history and regional development. Along the way he earned a PhD in geography, further developing his interest in telling stories and learning about his native place, but as he points out, those are all passions that revolve around each other.
“They’re all about a sense of place, about what makes Cork tick.
“What have I found? That Cork’s a hard-working city, an intelligent city - but that it can also be quite hard on itself.
“Because Cork is a second city I think there’s a massive drive there, but at the same time no matter what’s done, Cork still won’t be happy with itself, in one sense.
“But there’s also huge wisdom in Cork. I find if I’m out knocking on doors or at functions, people often share their insights and knowledge about the city and it’s amazing, the stuff I learn.
“I’ve been running walking tours which explain Cork and delve into the city’s history for many years as well, and I’m always interested in what outsiders and tourists have to say about the city, their impressions of it, as well.
“It’s interesting to me, for instance, when they sometimes refer to the particular kind of light in Cork — an ‘Atlantic light’, which they find very attractive.”
He’s also a city councillor, and the council is a forum where his expertise often comes in handy.
“It’s great if a topic comes up and I can offer a perspective based on my work — if development is proposed for an area I can say ‘well, such and such was done here fifty years ago or one hundred years ago, they tried this and it didn’t work’.
“Now at times the other councillors might take the mick and say I’m boring them, but I think there’s more awareness of the importance of local history and how that feeds into planning and development compared to long ago.”
McCarthy makes a strong case for an integrated approach to that kind of development, offering the plans for the south quays as an example of how that integration could work.
“When development comes up in the council I’d say ‘this is great, let’s do it, but let’s try to tell part of the story of the building or the area as we move it into the modern era as well’.
“I’m not in favour of just preserving every single brick in the city either. There’s change in a city all the time, and I’m well aware of how Cork has changed over the years, with different buildings coming and going.
“But I would have an issue with development that’s ‘placeless’ — buildings you look at which give you no sense of the city. I wouldn’t be a major fan of what I call glass buildings, I’m on the record on that — I would be more of a fan of taking 10, 15, 20 per cent of the existing architecture on sites and building that into the proposed development.
“Take the R and H Hall silos in the docklands — they’re such iconic buildings, landmark buildings, that I made a submission to the council recently calling for them, or part of them, to be kept — they create the area that is the docklands.
“I know the council has written to the developers asking them to look at the matter, but I also know that the silos are constructed from the inside out, as it were, and can’t be preserved in a practical way. I got a tour of them in early January and they can either be kept as silos or taken down, there’s no in-between.
“If there’s something I take from travelling in Europe it’s that there’s a lot of hugely interesting place-making going on in many cities.
“We seem almost afraid to engage in place-making here but in fairness, I have to say I like some of what JCD have done with the developments on the north quays, at the first Cork-Dublin terminus.
“One general point, though, is that championing Cork can be quite difficult because there are so many moving parts, if you like — there are so many different groups and interests that can be challenging.
“In fairness, in recent years there’s been a lot of breaking down of silos, a lot more opening up. The Chamber of Commerce have been crucial in that regard, for instance — its thought leaders council meets regularly to discuss different issues — but the sheer size of the place and the different groups make it challenging to move together on different matters.”
McCarthy’s been studying Cork for almost thirty years, since he was 16, and clearly sees successive generations as key to fostering and growing a love of place. Many parents will be familiar with his primary school history projects, which have had thousands of participants over the years.
“Something you notice about a lot of the Cork history books you’ll find in the library is that they’re static, full of just facts and dates. And there are so many stories in the city to tell — sometimes I think you’re better off going to writers for a sense of the city.
“But over the years the history projects have changed, too. From just giving dates and facts I encourage the kids to have opinions about the historical events, to talk or make presentations about what they found and what they thought of those findings.”
With that McCarthy was off again, detailing the need for a massive oral history of Cork.
No argument here when it comes to that idea — for too long the history we were taught was a matter of broad sweeps of economies and armies, not the smaller dramas in kitchens and sitting-rooms. People’s existence from day to day or the alarums and excursions of kings and generals — isn’t it obvious what’s more interesting and relevant?
By showing thousands of school kids how important it is for them to have opinions on their city’s past, Kieran McCarthy has armed generations of contributors to that massive oral history and given them faith in their own judgement.
More power to the work.
(Amberley Publishing) is available in bookshops now.