[ Leading Cork to Take Its Place as a World Class City ]
International Relations
Chinese New Year
Cork City Council was delighted to support the Cork City Chinese New Year Festival 2020, the year of the Metal Rat. We commend the organisers of these collaborative events which are inclusive, colourful, artistic and in keeping with Chinese tradition and culture. This affords all those living, studying and working in our City a unique opportunity to saviour another of our many cultures which continue to add to the experience of living in Cork City in a very positive way. The Chinese Esoteric Buddhist School, the Unitarian Church and Nano Nagle Place hosted the events and Cork City Council were delighted to support them in organising this.
The Department of Foreign Affairs invited Cork City Council to engage with our Irish Diaspora during Christmas 2020 via an initiative titled ‘To Be Irish’. The initiative ran from the 21st to 31st December 2020 and featured a wide-ranging programme of events that showcase and celebrate Irish culture, craft, community initiatives and seasonal traditions. Cork has a long and proud tradition of City to City Twinnings’ and is twinned with Shanghai, San Francisco, Cologne, Rennes, Swansea and Coventry, in addition to key relationships with three Chinese Partner Cities, Hangzhou, Wuxi and Shenzen. In supporting the initiative ‘To Be Irish’, the Lord Mayor Cllr Joe Kavanagh, delivered a special, online, personalised Christmas Message in December 2020 wishing our Irish Diaspora living and working in these cities via a range of social media platforms. The Lord Mayor acknowledged that the celebration of Christmas 2020 would be very different for us all but would be particularly difficult for those who would normally be looking forward to returning home for the festivities, but unable to do so due to the impact of Covid-19. As Christmas is a celebration of family, life and love the Lord Mayor called on all our Irish Diaspora to reach out and support each other during this period. ‘Although we are apart, we are united in our pride, loyalty and affection for Ireland, separated only by distance and circumstance’. Given the importance of 2020 for the City of Cork, as it commemorated the centenary of 1920 and the pivotal role the City played in our country’s fight for freedom, the Lord Mayor also shared details of our online Commemorations Programme and key highlights of this key piece of history in his Special Message to our Diaspora in these cities.
European Projects
The many European projects being undertaken by City Council, in conjunction with partner European agencies and cities, continued to progress in 2020. A number came to completion such as: Innova Foster focused on the improving the local innovation ecosystem in Cork; and Atlantic Area Social Labs with a focus on a number of social enterprise projects.
Tourism
Covid-19 had a major impact on Cork City Council’s tourism activities in 2020. While planning for what would have been the biggest year to date in terms of cruise passengers, Cork City Council’s cruise ambassador service was suspended as international cruise travel came to a halt. The Lee Sessions were also suspended as pubs remained closed throughout much of 2020. The value of Cork City Council’s touchscreen visitor information kiosks was highlighted as hotels chose to retain the kiosks when reopening in the summer– ensuring cleaning and sanitiser arrangements enable continued use of the kiosks at a time when other forms of visitor information (such as leaflet dispensers) have largely been eliminated.
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