Victorian Quarter name staying
The team behind the Victorian Quarter will not be giving in to pressure to change the name of the area.
Vice Chairman of the Victorian Quarter (VQ) Traders Association William O'Brien said this after a war of words broke out in City Hall over councillors and officials calling MacCurtain Street the Victorian Quarter.
Mr O'Brien, owner of Spar on MacCurtain Street, told the Cork Independent that there are no royalist associations with the VQ, adding that it's about shopping, eating and socialising.
He said: “If you look at the logo, there are no symbols like a crown on it. It's a logo with bags and glasses and that's what it is about. We're sorry that it has become political because it's not a political issue. It's a name and it's no more than that. It refers to a period of time.
“Our intention is to promote the area and we are using the name based on an outstanding facet of our area, which is architecture that originated from a period of time. It's about a style and not about honouring an imperialist regime.”
He added: “There's another way of looking at the name Victoria - she was the Roman goddess of victory and we want to be victorious.”
The row in the council chambers broke out on Monday as the Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr John Sheehan announced that a special meeting will take place at the end of January to commemorate the first meeting of Cork City Council in 1920, when Tomás MacCurtain was the lord mayor.
Mr O'Brien told the Cork Independent that the VQ team will also be commemorating and remembering Tomás MacCurtain next year.
“We are very proud of our area and we will be taking the opportunity to commemorate him, which will be one of our first initiatives next year because Tomás MacCurtain and MacCurtain Street are part of the VQ so we have every intention of celebrating it.”
Sinn Féin Cllr Thomas Gould saw red when some councillors referred to the street as the VQ. He said it was an insult to the memory of Tomás MacCurtain and his family.
Cllr Gould was of the opinion that Tomás MacCurtain’s memory was being “diminished and diluted”.
Cllr Gould said he had submitted a motion before the local elections in May urging that the term VQ was erased from all official council documents while he insisted that councillors stop using the term too.
Workers Party Cllr Ted Tynan said he would back this type of motion.
Fianna Fáil’s Colm Keheller said: “We all know it’s called MacCurtain Street but the VQ is bigger than MacCurtain Street. Let’s face it, I can remember MacCurtain Street when it was decimated and the businesses came together to call it the VQ and it boomed again.”
Cllr Gould appeared to take issue with what Cllr Keheller was saying and began to interrupt him with the Lord Mayor having to call for order on the council floor. He asked that councillors stop shouting over one another and to “behave themselves”.
Cllr Keheller claimed that Cllr Gould was only looking for headlines in newspapers with his take on the matter.
Fine Gael’s Joe Kavanagh said that there dozens of streets and terraces named after English generals and royalty.
“At the end of the day, this had nothing to do with Cork City Council. The VQ is being used as a marketing tool and has nothing to do with history. Our history will always be our history whether we like it or not. It’s being sold as the food and drinking quarter of the city,” said Cllr Kavanagh. Cllr Gould replied, asking: “Who would name a food and drink quarter after a famine queen?”