Our City Is Changing

ANN DOHERTY Chief Executive, Cork City Council

CHANGE, CONNECT, THRIVE Perhaps as never before, the prospect now exists to secure Cork’s future as a resilient, successful, sustainable and attractive city of scale with new opportunities and a top-class quality of life for all those living and working here.

Cork creating approximately 47,000 jobs. In recent months, the Financial Times ranked Cork number one small European city for FDI strategy. But our city will not be spared the realities of climate change – flooding, extreme weather and the accompanying negative economic and social impacts. We have choices to make. Do we continue as is, ignoring what is coming down the tracks, or make changes, some small, some bigger, so we continue to have a city where people want to work, want to live, to invest in and will be future-proofed? Yes, the transition will be challenging at times. The seriousness of what we face is based on evidence, recognised in national legislation and in the city’s Climate Action Plan supported unanimously by the elected members of Council. This isn’t something abstract but ultimately is about people: where they live, their health and wellbeing, physical, financial and environmental. The principal change to the city will be in the scale of infrastructure-led development meaning residents and communities can live close to public transport, to walking and cycling links and have ready access to work, education, amenities and facilities. If there was never a climate emergency, all of these changes would make sense as they allow us to live easier and healthier lives. Survey after survey point to a public appetite for more reliable, affordable public transport, more open space, more pedestrianisation and car free areas. So much of the work undertaken by Cork City Councillors and staff is planning and implementing a pathway to delivering on those wishes. But our staff and Elected Members cannot deliver the necessary changes on their own. Cork City Council controls many of the levers but not all. What is required is collaborative, informed interests working together. But the prize is huge and worth pursuing.

Most certainly, our city is changing; very significantly. Major, transformative initiatives in public transport, residential development, amenity and recreation, public realm and climate action are taking place. The scale of those changes and their positive impacts are reflected in this information booklet. These changes are not just desirable in their own right but necessary for the proper operation and growth of a city that has expanded five-fold since the boundary extension in 2019. Cork now embraces many new areas and new communities. It’s also projected that we will be adding about 150,000 people to our population – a 50% increase – by 2040, a very short period in the life of any city. There is no denying that Cork, like other cities, faces serious challenges such as how to rapidly increase housing supply, deliver regular and reliable public transport and ensure the city centre continues to thrive. But our expanding city also presents huge opportunities; to capitalise on being a city of scale by attracting larger inflows of foreign direct and indigenous investment, to be a resilient city in the face of climate change, to create more opportunities for people living here and to generate more resources to invest in the city’s communities and social, sporting and cultural life. That ambition for Cork is shared by Government and State agencies in a way not previously seen. Cork is now firmly embedded in national strategic policy as the “growth city” in the country. National policy recognises that of all cities outside Dublin, Cork has the greatest capacity to sustainably scale up to absorb population growth and leverage opportunity. Crucially, this government ambition is supported by substantial exchequer funding. Cork is not starting from a low base either. Post-Brexit, Cork city is the European Union’s second largest English-speaking city. 194 multinationals operate in