Bishop Lucey Park land sold to Freemasons
Cork city councillors voted in favour of disposing part of Bishop Lucey Park to the Freemasons on Monday night. The move attracted significant public criticism.
54m2 from the total park area, which is 1% of the park, was sold to the Provincial Grand Lodge of Munster Freemasons for the sum of €1, plus €1,500 costs to facilitate the construction of an extension to provide universal access and fire escape facilities to their historic building on Tuckey Street. The councillors voted 18-7 in favour of disposing of the parcel of land at a full council meeting on Monday night.
The area, which is one of the few public green spaces in the city centre, is home to 15 mature birch trees which were planted as saplings in 1993 to screen the blank rear of the building. The extension requires that the trees will be removed but 15 semi-mature birch trees will be planted in their place. Under the terms of the deal, the Freemasons will make their hall available to groups for 20 hours per month.
Green Party councillor Dan Boyle told the Cork Independent that he was “disappointed but not surprised”. He said that the deal sends out the wrong message about the value of green space in the city, saying “any tree we knock down puts us further back in meeting our carbon responsibilities”.
He explained that replacement planting in place of mature trees is not like-for-like. “You can only replace a mature tree with a mature tree. You need 10 or 15 semi-mature trees to replace the carbon effect of one mature tree. What we are achieving is one or two trees where there used to be 15.”
Deputy Lord Mayor Cllr Colette Finn took to Twitter to say that she voted against the disposal "for the simple reason that this moved public open space into private hands & reduces the biodiversity of the area".
Sinn Fein councillor Mick Nugent, who voted in favour of the disposal said: “ I recognise and appreciate the value of Bishop Lucey Park to the public. But what tipped me in favour is that it will open up a historic building to wheelchair users that’s not possible at the moment, which would encourage public use of the building.” He also said that while not ideal, many projects such as greenways and cycle lanes involve the felling of mature trees which are subsequently replanted. “It may not be the most popular decision but on balance I think it was the right one,” he added.
Asked if he was aware if any councillors are Freemasons, he said: “I don’t know if they are. I did say at the meeting that I wasn’t a Freemason. If anybody is they should have declared it or absented themselves from the vote.”
Lord Mayor Kieran McCarthy said that from his perspective, he wanted to have a balance between all aspects of heritage, not just one. “For me personally, the question is how to we marry building heritage, green heritage and cultural heritage. We have a building from the 1700s and if the fire escape wasn’t put in, probably in the long run the building would fall out of use and we would have a bigger problem.”
He also said that the park is currently in a bad condition and will be going through a transformation at the end of the year, and new planting will be part of that. “I saw comments that the members of the council don’t care about Cork, I would dispute that. I heard the differing perspectives at the meeting, and they were all valid. People want the best for Bishop Lucey Park,” he said.