Cork City Dole Queue

Moronic Cork City Councillors

Taken from Inside Cork, 26th of April 2007.

"Flats should be banned" - councillor



Fianna Fáil city councillor Dave McCarthy has once again called for his motion banning high rise development in suburban areas to be honoured following a planning application made to develop student accommodation on College Road in buildings ranging from three to five storeys in height.

Cllr McCarthy said, "I am now calling on the planning department of Cork City Council to respect the wishes of democratically elected memers on relation to this, and any further applications for
high-rise flats in the suburbs of Cork. I am objecting to this proporsal as I believe that flats can never work in a modern city.

"One third of the flats built in the past four years are vacant. We should have learnt from past mistakes when we knocked the Togher and Ballymun flats. This type of housing unit only promotes anti-social behaviour and should never be allowed".

To anyone, living in an apartment in Cork; how do you feel being told that your dwelling should never have been allowed and that by living in it, you're encouraging anti-social behaviour?

Councillor McCarthys remarks remind me of comments made by our Minister of Community, Rural and Gaelteacht Affairs, Eamonn Ó' Cuív on planning.

"We are a unique people and an ancient race with long-established traditions and settlement patterns. Why should we be forced to live by imported models, designed to suit people who live in totally different countries with totally different cultures?"

Cheers Cllr Michael McGrath!

For many of us in modern Ireland, the St. Patrick's Weekend remains one of the most important hoidays for Irish people. For some; it's religious reasons that the weekend signifies, but for most it's the chance to take a breather and spend some quality time with our families and friends. My favourite memories of St. Patrick's Day; are those I spent with my family, curled on the couch with Guinness in hand, catching the parade on televison (we're always too bloated from our traditional turkey turn to even consider making the trek into Cork city).

Invariably though, with the progress this country has made, product prices go up. Fortunately this St. Patrick's Weekend, I happened to hear Michael McGrath on the radio_today, unearthing a bargain to take some of the financial pressure off of the holiday. Michael informed Cork that Tesco were running a special promotion whereby you get a 24-can slab of Guinness or Budweiser at half price! I'm glad Michael was there to inform us of this fantastic deal, because I would never have known otherwise as I tend to ignore all advertisments.

Three cheers to you Michael!


(Cllr Michael McGrath, ready to go for St. Patrick's Day!)

Mattie Kiely's - Closed

I only found out about this from reading yesterday's Irish Examiner. Incase you're wondering what I'm on about, Mattie Kiely's is a delightfully grotty little chipper on Maylor Street, across the road from Smyth's Toy Shop. Given the dubiously dirty surroundings and menu consisting of only beef burgers, fish and chips, you'd have expected the place to have gone to the wall years ago. Not so. Not only that, but in an age of political correctness, Mattie Kiely was all too happy to taunt and jibe his customers. I'll always remember the first time going into Kiely's and asking for a chicken burger only to be told that if I wanted that sort of luxury, perhaps I'd be better off at the Victoria Hotel! Despite his waspish sense of humour, you never felt like a stranger whenever you stopped by. After being away from Cork for a year and returning for a lunch time feed, Kiely made mention of my absence, suggesting that a coronary from his chips was responsible as he prepared my usual order without needing to ask.

Enjoy the retirement Mattie, Cork will miss you sorely.

The Bodega: Going, going, well not yet.

I haven't seen this reported online yet, so for those of you that don't know, The Bodega has received yet another reprieve. According to todays Irish Examiner, the owners of The Roundy will be leasing The Bodega for five months until TK Maxx move in. This was confirmed by the new owner of the premesis, Owen O' Callaghan.

So now you all get to enjoy "one more night" of The Bodega for the third time.

Cork Anti-War Demonstrations Against British Navy Juggernaut

From page 2 of todays Evening Echo, I've put the interesting bits in bold.

"As Croke Park prepared to welcome the English rugby team on Saturday, the Union Jack was already flying in Cork today as HMS Severn (pictured below) sailed into the city on a courtesy visit.



The patrol vessel, which is skippered by Lieutenant Commander Rex J. Cox, arrived this morning with 32 crew members. The ship, which was built in Woolston Docks, Southampton, and is based at HM Naval Base Portsmouth, is part of the Fishery Protection Squadron on the Royal Navy. It will depart on Thursday."

According to the Irish Examiner and IndyMedia, Anti-War Ireland are protesting this visit of this British "war machine" (words used by one anti-war type). Fearsome stuff indeed, sounds like a veritable deathmongerer! In the interests of fairness though, let's get a bit more details on this machine. This site tells gives us a bit more detail on this fishery protection vessel. The formidable weapons compliment consists of . .

1x20mm BMARC KAA gun, 2 GPMGs

Yep, that's right, three machine guns.

House Prices Falling In Carrigaline.

Buying a house in Carrigaline or the surrounding area? Well buyer beware, because prices in the area have stalled and in many cases, have fallen. Not only that, but the inventory of properties on myhome.ie has increased almost two fold, a similar trend is being repeated at local auctioneers such as Dennehy, Daly and McNamee. With even more developments to come online on Castle Heights and a 100 acre site at Shannon Park being earmarked for development, the property boom in Carrigaline may very well be coming to an end. With job losses in nearby Pfizer and speculation about the removal of Stamp Duty for first time buyers, I think there's scope for further price drops. However, if you must buy right now, don't be afraid to play hardball with auctioneers. I recently viewed a property in the area that was on the market for €400,000, the auctioneer was quite open about accepting an offer as low as €381,000 (the stamp duty threshold).

12 Carrig Avenue, Carrig Na Curra, DOWN €10,000.

€350,000

€340,000

19 Dun Eoin, Ballinrea Road, DOWN €42,500 (price dropped twice!!)

€360,000

€350,000

€317,500

29 Highfield, Ballinrea Road, DOWN €40,000

€340,000

€320,000

€310,000

€300,000 (Sale Agreed)

9 The Close, Waterpark, DOWN €50,000

€350,000

€300,000

30 Waterpark Green, DOWN €20,000

€400,000

€380,000

90 Mount Rivers, DOWN €20,000

€300,000

€280,000

Archella, Ballinrea Road, DOWN €120,000

€720,000

€600,000

6 The Brambles, Heron's Wood, DOWN €30,000

€330,000

€327,000

44 Silverhill, Heron's Wood, DOWN €5,000

€345,000

€340,000

7 Weston Heights, Ballinrea Road, DOWN €5,000

€600,000

€595,000

12 Spring Lane, DOWN €35,000 (price dropped twice!!)

€415,000

€395,000

€380,000

New price drops as of 8th of March!

No. 1 Shrewsbury Park, Fernhill Road DOWN €25,000

€800,000

€775,000

73 Wrenville, Kilmoney Road DOWN €15,000

€360,000

€345,000

14 Kinalea, Nohoval DOWN €2,500

€317,500

€315,000

33 Highfields, Ballea Road DOWN €10,000

€325,000

€315,000

58 Glen Rua DOWN €10,000

€340,000

€330,000

106 Spruce Drive, Ballea Road DOWN €3,000

€298,000

€295,000

Ballea, Forrest Road, DOWN €30,000

€425,000

€395,000

37 Rockboro Heights, Waterpark, DOWN €10,000

€325,000

€315,000

42 Liosbourne, Upper Kilmoney, DOWN €40,000

€415,000

€410,000

€400,000

€375,000

1 The Grove, Herons Wood, DOWN €20,000 (price dropped twice!!)

€325,000

€315,000

€305,000

New price drops as of 8th of March!

30 Dun Eoin Meadow, DOWN €10,000

€350,000

€340,000

27 Kilmoney Heights, DOWN €11,000

€370,000

€359,000

34 Elm Drive, Westwood, DOWN €15,000

€355,000

€340,000

36 The Green, Herons Wood, DOWN €10,000

€335,000

€325,000

It's also interesting to note there are now 10 pages of entries for Carrigaline on daft. Many of the properties that have been listed above are still on the market despite a price fall.

Make what you will of that.

Purgatory Nightclub Outting

Weary of the typical club and late bar scene of Cork City, a friend and I decided to give the alternative club in the Cruiscin Lan a try! Good almosphere (if you're into band t-shirts, long hair and jackboots), reasonable pints (served in plastic glasses though, boo!) and friendly enough folk (expect to be picked up if you take a tumble while moshing). One quibble was that the smoke machine had been set to ape-shit mode, giving an ominous Gorrilla's in the Mist ambiance if you were half-cut like I was.

I snapped this bare chested young go-getter in the process of trying to rip the railings from around the stage.



In the interests of bias, I sought an opinion from another Purgatory regular. I received a resounding, thumbs up! So there you have it!