Minister pledges to establish dedicated task force to revitalise Cork city centre 

Justice Minister Helen McEntee has pledged that Fine Gael will establish a dedicated task force to revitalise Cork city centre within its first 100 days of returning to office.

Ms McEntee was speaking to reporters while being accompanied by Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohue and local Fine Gael general election candidates on a walkabout in the English Market today.

During the walkabout, she and Mr Donohue spoke with Sheila Fitzpatrick at the Alternative Bread Company. “I’ve been working here for 30 years and now I’m frightened to walk back to my car at seven o’clock in the evening,” she told The Echo afterwards. She also attributed the anxiety she felt to the lack of people living in the city centre and its general lack of cleanliness.

The Justice Minister said that she was in favour of more prison places and more gardaí being deployed around the country but pointed out that this would only address part of the issues raised with her during the walkabout.

“It’s not just about more gardaí, it’s about our city centres,” she said, responding to a query from The Echo.

“Our Taoiseach instigated a task force for Dublin earlier on this year, they looked at the entirety of the city and what we need to make sure that it is as vibrant and as thriving as it can be. 

"Actually, of the 10 significant recommendations, one of those was more gardaí, and that’s really important, but the remaining nine were about infrastructure, the built environment, it’s about dereliction, it’s about the type of services in our city centres, it’s about who’s living in our city centres and, unfortunately, post covid, we have less people living in our city centres – so what we says is something similar for Cork here.

“Cork is a vibrant, thriving city that faces its own unique challenges and opportunities.

“The first step in the creation of the taskforce will be bringing together stakeholders from across national and local government, businesses, and civic and cultural organisations. This expert group will consider the current economic and social environment across Cork city, identify the needs and ultimately present recommendations for the rejuvenation of the city.

“Crucially, Fine Gael in Government will ensure that Cork has the investment needed to implement the taskforce’s recommendations.” Ms McEntee also addressed concerns raised about overcrowding at Cork Prison which, on Friday night, was holding a record number of inmates, at 360, despite only having a capacity for 296.

“That’s why I have started the largest ever expansion in recent years of our prison service – we have plans and funding for 1,100 new prison places, the first 150 of which are to come on stream this year, that’s right across the country,” she said.

“Fine Gael is proposing in our manifesto to increase that to 1,500, as well as that we’re proposing to develop a completely new prison on the Thornton Hall site.” Her colleague, Paschal Donohue, said the party in Government would commit to the construction of Cork Commuter Rail Programme along with a renewed pledge to invest in the Cork to Limerick motorway.

“Cork Airport opens up the county and surrounding areas to tourism from across Europe,” he said. “To ensure Cork Airport continues to go from strength to strength, Fine Gael will conduct an urgent review to maximise the use of regional airports.”

During the walkabout the two ministers and their entourage of Cork South and North Central candidates met with other stall owners including Jack Mulcahy at the Chicken Inn who spoke of the number of restaurants to go out of business during the year due to the 13.5% Vat rate.