Got Cork: The Kieran McCarthy Lord Mayoralty 2023-24
Recently, my partner Marcelline and I launched a new book called ‘Got Cork: The Kieran McCarthy Lord Mayoralty, 2023-24’. The book was launched by the current Lord Mayor Cllr Fergal Dennehy and the Lady Mayoress Karen Brennan.
The new book is an exploration on my year in office. There is also much local history in this book.
Over fifty-two weeks – from 23 June 2023 to 21 June 2024 – the elected council of Cork City Council term entrusted me with leadership of the council AKA the title of Lord Mayor of Cork. The privilege of Lady Mayoress was held by Marcelline Bonneau.
Through the publishing of a suite of our speeches and some of the photographs that were taken, this book celebrates that pride and the journey over one year into the life of Cork city.
Being lord mayor was a really deep honour. It was a childhood dream and something I thought I would never personally achieve. Over the years, there was no set path to taking on that honour. My path has always been filled with a love for my city with all its positives and negatives.
My journey into its local history has brought me much joy, many surprises, but above all enabling me to keep building through many lenses the strong sense of place and pride that exists in Cork. However, it is one thing writing about Cork history over many years, but it is another being a part of it as lord mayor.
This book of stories, reflections and encounters, which provides the thoughts of Marcelline and I in the mayoralty journey. In particular, the speeches reflect the essence of story-telling and the importance of togetherness.
Looking at the diary over the 52 weeks, there were over 1,600 events. On average there were about 30-40 events a week depending on the season. The days were long and the diary was very demanding, but to get to explore Cork and many of its stories was very fulfilling.
One day can feel like three days when there are so many diary events to juggle! One hour one could be at a presentation of cheques, or the presentation of certs, and the next you journey on and could be praising someone for their sporting achievement or helping open a new business, meeting an ambassador or addressing students at one of Cork’s 118 schools or giving a tour of the lord mayor’s office to various community groups. Some events have been varied ranging from a one person engagement to thousands of people.
The mayoralty chain may be rooted in tradition and history, but our experience over the 52 weeks is that its essence is that it looks forward. Indeed, all of the mayoralty events built a sense of identity for Cork’s future.
However, across all of the events the common denominator has always been Cork’s soul. There are thousands of people in Cork engaged in not only its life and its story but enhancing its life and story. Every hour of everyday someone is doing something great for Cork and its communities.
Much of it goes without being seen but the office of lord mayors gets to what I call “deep dive” down into many stories and moments. In our city such stories matter or indeed such moments need to be cherished. The essence of forward looking support and togetherness runs deep in our city.
At the start of the term of office, we spoke about our theme of Building Communities Together. The sense of togetherness and the stories in Cork, we promoted and spoke at length about all year.
Apart from the messages of speeches or acts of singing, multiple visits were made to the physical mayoralty office in City Hall. The sense of pride in this city is one that should not be taken for granted but as city we need to keep working on. In particular the ‘keep working on’ sentiment was the concentration of our tour of the Lord Mayor’s office. There we intentionally showcased a number of historical objects from the eighteenth century to the present day.
I usually began showing the four silver maces from 1738 whose craftmanship was done by French Huguenots. For us the attention to detail in the craftwork was an important link to the work of community groups and championing of detail in supporting people.
With the admiral’s hat, we could link the tradition of the throwing of the dart and that maritime tradition to the idea that there is still much to discover about Cork and its communities in the various corners of our city and region.
The gold key, which Éamon de Valera used to formally open City Hall in September 1936, we used a metaphor that there is still much to unlock in our communities in Cork.
The portraits we used to link to the tragic stories of former and martyred lord mayors Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney. The current historic building is dedicated to their memory. Their memory though is filled with ideas of democracy and building hope for the future, which are elements the city also needs for its future.
In another room, we showcased all of the pictures of the previous lord mayors and reminded visitors that all has back stories and interests in Cork’s future and all came from a variety of contexts and backgrounds, which is also an important part of Cork’s future DNA.
We added a modern section during my term of office – from the international deaf flag to pictures of the Pride Parade, the women’s caucus of Cork City Council to Mary Crilly of the Cork Sexual Violence Centre receiving the Freedom of the City in 2022. Such latter topics are also essential to Cork’s future and to remind the visitor of the city’s must recent important stories.
‘Got Cork: The Kieran McCarthy Lord Mayoralty, 2023-24’ by Kieran McCarthy & Marcelline Bonneau is €20. The book is a limited edition, and is available by emailing Kieran at mccarthy_kieran@yahoo.com.
April 2026 historical walking tours with Kieran: All tours free, 2 hours, no booking required, note different times
Saturday 18 April: The Cork City Workhouse Tour; meet just inside the gates of St Finbarr’s Hospital, Douglas Road at 11am.
Saturday 25 April: The Friar’s Walk Tour; Discover Red Abbey, Elizabeth Fort, Barrack Street, Callanan’s Tower & Greenmount area; meet at Red Abbey tower, off Douglas Street at 1pm in association with the Cork Lifelong Learning Festival.
Sunday 26 April: The Shandon Tour; meet at North Main Street/Adelaide Street Square, opp. Cork Volunteer Centre at 1pm in association with the Cork Lifelong Learning Festival.