Cllr: Extra funding is vital for city taskforce

A new taskforce for Cork city will become a “box-ticking exercise and a publicity stunt” unless funding to fulfill its recommendations is provided by the Government, according to Cork City Councillor Shane O’Callaghan (Fine Gael).

The Government recently announced the launch of the Cork City Futures Group, a taskforce responsible for “unlocking the city’s full economic, cultural, and academic potential”.

The group will review the Cork City Centre Development and Operations Action Plan 2025-2030, and report to the Government on what needs to be done at a national and local level to ensure it is delivered.

It will be made up of representatives from academia, business, An Garda Síochána, the arts and culture sector, tourism, transport, and the community and voluntary sector.

A spokesperson for Cork City Council welcomed the group’s establishment and said: “it is a positive step for the economic, social and cultural future of the city”.

However, Cllr O’Callaghan said no extra funding is being made available to carry out the group’s recommendations, and the city council is being expected to raise the funds itself.

He drew comparison to a similar taskforce set up in Dublin, which also received no extra funding.

“In Dublin, the taskforce was set up, a lot of time and effort was spent analysing the issues and making recommendations, and then nothing was done.

“The blame isn’t on them though - there was no funding stream made available to them, and so there was nothing that they could do,” he said.

While he said that he welcomed the announcement of the taskforce and would be happy to work with them, he said the Government must back up the announcement with concrete funding.

Cllr O’Callaghan is not the only councillor frustrated with how the taskforce is shaping up.

Green Party councillor Oliver Moran said while he and his colleagues agreed that they wanted to engage with the group when it is established, there was a lot of frustration at council level with national authorities.

He said the taskforce was indicative of a larger problem that local authorities have, which is that they are “purse-strung to central government”.

“Things that in any other city on the continent would be local — from zebra crossings, or a city library, to water services.

“Uisce Éireann is literally across the street from City Hall and they won’t answer our requests for a meeting.

“Top-to-bottom the system needs reform, if there’s going to be a genuine Cork future for this group to imagine,” he said.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.