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@kite wrote:

Lane Homes have applied to Cork City Council to demolish the former Lovett’s Restaurant in Douglas and propose to construct 10 one bed, 23 two bed apartments over 2, 3, and 4 storeys.

Is this Lovett’s on the Well Rd? Firstly I never heard it was closing and secondly, as it is an old (18th Century?) country house I’d be amazed if it was being knocked…..

@a boyle wrote:

just stop . how ever many you add dublin can add many more and the other cities can add just as many. it is really silly. leixslip/celbridge is physically connect to dublin ‘city’ but sits in kildare. will i add another 50000.

does dublin stretch to greystones (another 10000).

get over it. all the cities have grown .

Dublin remains a big town, cork a town galway a small town , and limerick another small town.

who cares if cork has a quarter of a million does it change anything ?

On this point A Boyle is right. I would call Cork’s urban population 250,000 but even at that it is, at best, 1/4 the size of Dublin. Galway is about 100,000 and Limerick a little less when the right boundaries are used for all the cities.

Where I wouldn’t agree with the discussion on populations is with Darkman. Sure, relative to Dublin, Cork is v. small (call it a village if it keeps him happy) but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t and shouldn’t get light rail / trams in the short term. Yes Dublin had to wait til it was a 1m city before it got light rail but that was ridiculous. All over Europe there are cities the same size (and smaller) than Cork with proper public transport. This is before we factor in expected population growth in Cork in the next generation of 100,000+. Because of its Centre Island make up, the core of Cork City is ideal for full pedestrianisation with light rail / trams running through it. building such a system now for Cork is no more premature than building (as we allegedly are) Metro for Dublin. Both cities can support each now but clearly will need them into the future. What is wrong with forward planning now? I think Transport 21 should be ripped up and chucked in the bin as it basically is just a plan for Dublin and its commuter belt. If we are serious about regional growth (which Dublin would in truth be the main benefactor from) then a transport plan which sees funding for projects along the lines of, say, 35% for Dublin & hinterland, 15% for Cork & hinterland, 7-10% each for Galway & Limerick, etc is needed to let the other regions play catch up with Dublin. I don’t know the statistical break down of funding under Transport 21 but I’d be amazed if Dublin & Hinterland was getting anything less than 50-60%.

I must say I hope that CCC try and direct the GAA somewhat in the redevelopment of Pairc Ui Caoimh. The officership of the current Cork County Board are fairly conservative and I would worry they would only be interested in spending a couple of million on remedial work. The truth is the the Park is in need of a complete overhaul and possibly even should be knocked and rebuilt. It is presently a third world stadium with benches (sized for ants) instead of seats, etc. For this reason, I would actually love if the City Council would actually take their involvement a step further……

My own view, and it is a bit of an obsession of mine, is that a state of the art 40,000 to 50,000 capacity stadium should be built on that site. Of this, at least 35,000 should be proper seating with corporate boxes etc. In fact if I had my way it would be all seated as I think the terracing that remains in, say, Croke Park really takes away from the overall appearance of it.

I think a stadium of this size would be viable in Cork if we are ambitious enough. Cork is a remarkable city in terms of sporting ability and support. At the moment that support is not being utilised. I know there are the hardy souls that go to Cork GAA league matches (mind you less than the 30,000 that will trek up to Thurles for championship matches), the 3,000 to 6,000 that will go to Turner’s Cross each week and the similar amount who go to Munster Celtic League matches in Musgrave Pk but I think you could increase these figures exponentially if there was one unified, state of the art, stadium in Cork. Quite frankly if such matches were turned into “events” in a new stadium (a la the “Croke Parke effect”) you would at least double and possibly multiply attendances x 4/5. These matches could keep the stadium ticking over but its real purpose could be for other, bigger but less regular, events.

I reckon that between hurling and football you could have at least 3 munster championship full houses a year. It would also be available for all-ireland quarter finals and the like. You could also have other one off GAA matches should as County Semis and Finals, Aussie Rules internationals and the like to provide other large attendances.

Equally, if Cork City could reap the benefits of larger gate receipts, given their current success and given their monopoly of Ireland’s best sporting catchment area, there is no reason why they could not dominate Irish football and, in the medium term, get into the Group stages of the Champion’s league – the financial benefits of this should be obvious to all. Moreover the FAI could definitely be prevailed upon to bring an international friendly or two to leeside every year.

On the rugby front again I think the venue could host Celtic league matches and the odd International and B international. Moreover, notwithstanding the proposed redevelopment of Thomond Park (which is the kind of half-measure redevoplment I fear will happen to Pairc Ui Caoimh), I think Munster European cup matches could be viable in Cork too especially if there are high yield coporate boxes. I know my employers, and many other companies, would snap up a box at this mooted venue in a heart beat if there was this kind of fare being served up (the idea of bringing clients to Heineken Cup matches or even The Champions League would whet any businessman’s appetite). Quite simply this kind of revenue would not be available to the IRFU, the GAA or the FAI in their current Munster bases.

All of the above does not also factor in the ability to hold concerts at the venue in summer months. Enough said.

Of course the BIG problem with the above is that the GAA own Pairc Ui Caoimh and will not want rugby and soccer there. However they cannmot build the kind of stadium described above on their own. Therefore what I would suggest is that the City Council seek to buy out the GAA and then lease back the land to be redeveloped as this new state of the art stadium. The private sector would obviously need to be involved and equally the main sports bodies would need to be involved financially as part stakeholders. I think this way the GAA rules diffiiculty would be circumvented. Equally the GAA would get a whopping sum they could invest as they please including the upgrade of Pairc Ui Rinn for smaller draw matches etc.

I know the above is rough and ready and can be torn apart by a cynic. Yes Cork City aren’t likely to be in the CL this year or next (but you never know!), yes Turner’s Cross, Thomond Park and Musgrave Park are getting partial mark-overs, yes Frank Murphy won’t be on board (one suspects!), yes there will be many other problems. The bottom line is this though. There are 500,000 people approx in the county. That number is rising. Many areas in Europe with that population but only a fraction of Cork’s sporting heritage have stadiums of this size. Cork companies have vast marketing budgets they would happily spend on corporate boxes and corporate entertainment generally at such a venue. Equally the location itself (on the harbour with a rail line that can be reinsatated easily, 1 mile ftom the city centre) is perfect. Think big people. The problems arfe all surmountable. With the right planning it would work.

*shortly I would hope to post some (restricted) details of an emerging aviation development associated with Cork – although preliminary in nature*

Can you enlighten us yet Lexington…am intrigued!:confused:

This was put back to March as I recall. Any news?

This decision was to be made yesterday I think. Any news?

Hi all,

I have not posted before but am a long time admirer of the site. Just wondering, with all the stuff in the papers about Cork City FC these last few days, if anyone knows the nature of the redevelopment of the Shed End. Is a stand replacing just the current small terrace or are they building a stand going the width of the pitch? As all the papers say it will be done in coming months there is, presumably, extant planning permission.

Thanks in advance.