Cork pride festival returns to its roots

Cork’s new volunteer-led Pride weekend took on a more political character compared in 2026, a notable improvement compared to previous years, according to one participant.

Cork Community Pride 2026 took place last weekend on Saturday and Sunday and featured a number of events including a march and family picnic.

Éadaoin Flynn, an employee of LINQ Ireland, which represents lesbian, bisexual, and queer women and non-binary people in Cork, said that the changes made under the new organisers had a very positive impact.

“It was more political than it was before because there were no corporations. There was a lot of chanting, as opposed to just music. Obviously, there was some music, but in previous years it’s been all music, all parties.

“This time there was more chanting, more demands. There were more community groups who had been together throughout the year who were driving their own things, I think there was much more political engagement around it,” they said.

Community groups in recent years had been more marginalised in favour of corporate sponsors, who dominated the official events, said Flynn. However, in recent years, there has been a marked increase in queer community groups in Cork, many of whom took part in organising this year’s event.

The lack of a corporate presence was one of the main changes to this year’s festival and was a key aspect of the new “community” focus taken up by the new organisers, Cork Community Pride.

Cork Pride previously faced criticism over a number of corporate sponsors, including Tesla, and US defence company Collin’s Aerospace.

Until 2025, Cork’s pride weekend had been organised by Cork LGBT+ Pride CLG. However, the company entered liquidation in November 2025, as a result of legal costs incurred during a High Court case brought against the company by former employee Kery Mullaly.

Mullaly had been the company’s only employee since being hired in 2021 as a business development officer. He had been suspended due to allegations of misconduct, which he denied. His suspension was lifted by a High Court injunction in June 2025. The costs incurred caused Cork Pride to cease as a going concern.

This year’s festival was organised by a new volunteer-run organisation, Cork Community Pride, which formed in February 2026. The parade began on Sunday from Grand Parade, before travelling down South Mall, and returning to Grand Parade via St Patrick’s Street. There were a number of speeches on Grand Parade from Orla Egan of the Cork LGBT Archive, Niamh Kennedy, Executive Director of LINQ Ireland, and Konrad Im of the Gay Project.

Flynn said that the new approach taken by organisers and participants was much better. “There was more of a pulling it back to action, more of a pulling it back to things that can be done throughout the year, stuff to get involved in as opposed to just party energy. There was also a lot of party energy, people were having a really nice time and all that jazz,” they said.

The event went very well and was a positive development, said Flynn, and the future looks bright if it stays on its current trajectory.

“The main thing is to stick to not having corporations involved, that’s something I’d be worried about. I think we need to hold strong with the community aspect, because this year has shown that it can happen, it can afford to happen.