Hotel Greening Manager, Edel Kavanagh and Maintenance Manager Shane O’Mahony at Cork International Hotel’s new rooftop garden. Photo: Brian Lougheed

Oh, kale yeah!

That’s because it has a new rooftop garden which will be used to grow vegetables and herbs.

The opening of the new addition at the Cork International Hotel coincides with Earth Day today, 22 April.

The team at the hotel has said it has set ambitious goals to lower its carbon footprint by five per cent every year by reducing energy consumption and waste.

General Manager of the Cork International Hotel, Carmel Lonergan said: “We are committed to ensuring that our activities at the hotel have the least possible detrimental impact on the environment.

“The construction of a rooftop garden is just one element of this. We are dedicated to our team’s education and awareness to ensure that there is a culture of environmental responsibility across the company at every level which will ensure our sustainable strategy is maintained year on year. our vision to reality,” she concluded.

Hotel Greening Manager, Edel Kavanagh said: “It is such an honour to have been appointed as the Greening Manager for the hotel, along with my existing role of Front Office Manager.

“We all have a responsibility to look after the world that we live in and it is such an exciting project for us as a team. We are passionate about making a difference but we are also really excited about the creative and fun challenges that we have set for the team over the next few months.”

Head Chef Christopher O’Sullivan said it was wonderful to see what was an unused space being turned into a practical kitchen garden.

“We’re committed to responsibly sourced produce and you can’t get more responsibly sourced than vegetables and herbs grown on our own roof. It also means we will have the freshest ingredients possible in our food and drinks,” he added.