Cork (city)

This article is about the city in the Republic of Ireland. For other uses, see Cork.

Template:Infobox Irish Place Cork (Irish: Corcaigh) is the second city of the Republic of Ireland and Ireland's third most populous city after Dublin and Belfast. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city of the province of Munster.

The city of Cork has a population of 119,143, while the addition of the suburban areas contained in Cork County brings this total to 190,384. Metropolitan Cork has a population of approximately 274,000, while the Greater Cork area is about 380,000.

The city's name is derived from an Irish word corcach meaning "marshy place", referring to its situation on the River Lee. Cork has a reputation for rebelliousness dating back to the town's support of the English pretender Perkin Warbeck in 1491 following the Wars of the Roses. Cork County has the nickname of "the Rebel County", and Corkonians often refer to Cork as the "real capital of Ireland".

The River Lee flows through the city, an island in the river forming the main part of the city centre just before the Lee flows into Lough Mahon and thence to Cork Harbour, one of the world's largest natural harbours. The city is a major Irish seaport — with quays and docks sited along the broad waterway of the Lee on the city's East side, while Cork plays host to the World's second largest natural harbour, after Sydney, Australia.

History

The River Lee flows through the city in two channels and forms a central island

Main article: History of Cork

Cork was originally a monastic settlement founded by St. Finbarr in the sixth century. Its city charter was granted by King John in 1185. The title of Mayor of Cork was established by royal charter in 1318, and the title was changed to Lord Mayor in 1900.

Over the centuries, much of the city was destroyed and rebuilt after attacks by Vikings or Norsemen. It has been proposed that, like Dublin, Cork was an important trading centre in the global Scandinavian trade network. The city was once fully walled, and several wall sections and gates remain today.

In the War of Independence, the centre of Cork was gutted by fires started by the Black and Tans, and the city saw fierce fighting between Irish guerrillas and British forces. During the Irish Civil War, Cork was for a time held by anti-Treaty forces, until it was retaken by the pro-Treaty National Army in an attack from the sea.

Climate

Cork Airport, Ireland (1962-1991)
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     138     8 3     116     8 3     99     9 3     68     11 4     83     14 7     69     17 9     66     19 11     89     18 11     96     16 9     125     13 8     111     10 5     134     9 4 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C █ Precipitation totals in mm
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     5.4     46 37     4.6     46 37     3.9     49 38     2.7     52 40     3.3     57 44     2.7     62 49     2.6     65 52     3.5     65 52     3.8     61 49     4.9     56 46     4.4     50 40     5.3     47 39 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F █ Precipitation totals in inches

The climate of Cork, like the rest of Ireland, is mild, moist and changeable with abundant rainfall and a lack of temperature extremes. Met Éireann maintain a climatological weather station at Cork Airport, a few kilometres south of the city - it should be noted that as the airport is at an altitude of 151m (500ft); temperatures can often differ by a few degrees between the airport and the city itself. There are also smaller synoptic weather stations at University College Cork, Clover Hill and Fota Island.

Temperatures below 0 ºC or above 30 ºC are rare, though not unheard of. Cork Airport records an average of 1194.4mm of precipitation annually, most of which is rain - hail, sleet and snow are rare. The airport records an average of 8 days of hail and 16 days of snow or sleet a year; though it only records lying snow for 6 days of the year. There are 151 'rainy' days a year (over 1mm of rainfall), of which there are 75 days with 'heavy rain' (over 5mm).

Cork is also a generally foggy city, with an average of 100 days of fog a year - most common during mornings at times of high pressure or else during winter. Despite this, however, Cork is also one of Ireland's sunniest cities, with an average of 3.8 hours of sunshine every day and only having 69 days where there is no 'recordable sunshine', mostly during and around winter.

Like the rest of Ireland, Cork is consistently humid, with humidity usually ranging between 70% and 100% every day. There are only 4 days where thunder is recorded during the year on average as well, mostly during late summer and early autumn.

Places of interest

Shandon Steeple

St Finbarre's Cathedral

Cork features architecturally notable buildings originating from the medieval (only the Red Abbey survives from medieval Cork) to modern periods. St. Patrick's Street, a main street that has been recently remodelled, is known for the architecture of the buildings along it pedestrian-friendly route through a major shopping district. The adjacent Grand Parade is a tree-lined avenue, home to offices and financial institutions. The old financial centre is the South Mall, with several banks whose interior derive from the 19th century, such as the Allied Irish Banks which was once an exchange. Many of the city's buildings are in the Georgian style, although the modern County Hall tower is the tallest building in the Republic of Ireland. Across the river is Ireland's longest building, the Mental Hospital built in Victorian times, which has now been renovated and converted into a residential housing complex called Atkins Hall, after its architect William Atkins.

Cork's most famous building is the church tower of Shandon, which dominates the North side of the city. The North and East sides are faced in red sandstone, and the West and South sides are clad in the predominant stone of the region, white limestone. At the top sits a weather vane in the shape of an eleven-foot salmon. The clock tower on the church is known by locals as The Four-faced Liar, as from the base of the building, each clock face appears to show a different time. Shandon is accessible to the public, and the bells may be rung by visitors.

Cork City Hall is illuminated at night, reflecting off the River Lee, which it fronts

The City Hall, another notable building of limestone, replaced the previous one destroyed by British forces on December 11 1920 during the War of Independence in an event known as the "Burning of Cork". The cost of this new building was provided by the British Government in the 1930s as a gesture of reconciliation.

There are two cathedrals in the city: The Roman Catholic St Mary's Cathedral (commonly called the North Cathedral), and the Church of Ireland St Finbarre's Cathedral.

Other notable places include the Cork Opera House is one of the few modern opera houses in Ireland. Fitzgerald's Park, to the west of the city, and the grounds of University College Cork, through which the River Lee flows, are also tourist destinations. The English Market, accessible from Grand Parade, Patrick Street, Oliver Plunkett Street and Princes Street, is a covered market for fish, fruit, meat, spices and luxury foods. The origins of the market can be traced back to 1610, and the present building dates from 1786.

The cross-continent European walking route E8 trail starts at Cork, ending 4700 km away in Istanbul, Turkey.

Culture

The Glucksman Gallery at UCC.

Music, theatre, dance, and film all play a prominent role in Cork city life. The Cork School of Music and the Crawford College of Art and Design provide a constant throughput of new blood, as do the active theatre components of many courses at University College Cork (UCC). Highlights include: Corcadorca Theatre Company, where Cillian Murphy got his start; Cork Film Festival, a major supporter of the art of the short film; The Institute for Choreography and Dance, a national contemporary dance resource; the Triskel Arts Centre; Cork Jazz Festival; the Cork Academy of Dramatic Art (CADA). The Everyman Palace Theatre and the Granary Theatre both play host to large amounts of dramatic plays throughout the year. Cork is home to the RTÉ Vanbrugh String Quartet, and to many musical acts, including John Spillane, The Frank And Walters, Sultans Of Ping, Fish Go Deep, and the late Rory Gallagher. The opera singers Cara O'Sullivan, Mary Hegarty, Nyle Wolfe, Brendan Collins, and Sam McElroy are also Cork born. The short story writers Frank O'Connor and Sean O'Faoláin haled from Cork. Contemporary writers of national and international status include poets Greg Delanty, Sean Dunne, Thomas McCarthy, Gerry Murphy, and Maurice O'Riordan; novelist Conal Creedon and novelist and poet William Wall. There is a thriving literary community centring on The Munster Literature Centre and the Triskel Arts Centre.

Cork has been gaining cultural diversity for many years as a result of immigration, from Western Europe (particularlly France and Spain) in the mid to late nineties, and more recently from Eastern European countries such Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia and various African and Asian nations. This is reflected in the recent growth of multi-cultural restaurants and shops, including specialist shops for East-European or Middle-Eastern food, Chinese and Thai restaurants, French patisseries, Indian buffets, and Middle Eastern kebab houses. Cork saw significant Jewish immigration from Lithuania and Russia in the late 19th century. Jewish citizens such as Gerald Goldberg (several times Lord Mayor), David Marcus (novelist) and Louis Marcus (documentary maker) played important roles in 20th century Cork. Today, the Jewish community is relatively small in population, although the city still has a Jewish quarter and local synagogue. Cork also features various Christian churches, as well as a mosque. Some Catholic masses around the city are said in Polish, in addition to the traditional Latin and local Irish and English languages.

Recent additions to the arts infrastructure include modern additions to Cork Opera House and the Crawford Municipal Art Gallery. The new Lewis Glucksman Gallery opened in the Autumn of 2004 at UCC, was nominated for the prestigious Stirling Prize in the United Kingdom, and building is about to commence on a new €60 million School of Music building. Construction of the €50 million Brookfield UCC Medical School complex was completed in 2005.

Cork was the European Capital of Culture for 2005. One of the key projects was the Cork Caucus. In 2005, a Smart Telecom wireless network was installed making the city centre one of the first in Europe with a complete high-speed Wi-Fi network.

There is a rivalry between Cork and Dublin, similar to the rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona, but Corkonians will sometimes view themselves as different from much the rest of Ireland also, and refer to themselves as "rebels" (The county is known as the Rebel County). This distinctly Corkonian view has in recent years manifested itself in humorous references to the region as The People's Republic of Cork. Citizens of the True Capital adorn themselves with t-shirts and other items which celebrate The People's Republic of Cork printed in various languages such as English, Irish, Polish, Spanish and Italian. The Cork bicolour is flown at public and civic buildings (including city's main courthouse, bus station, railway station and major department stores). It is flown along with the Irish tricolour, or on its own.

Statue of Father Matthew - a landmark in St. Patrick's Street

Traditions

The city has many local traditions in food and customs. Traditional Cork foods include Crubeens and Tripe and Drisheen. Other traditions include Whipping The Herring, a (now discontinued) celebration which marked the return of meat to local tables at the end of lent. Observed up to the early 19th century, it involved a local butcher and citizens parading through the streets to the Lee while flogging a herring with a whip. Once at the river he would drop the herring into the water, then pick up a leg of lamb adorned with ribbons. He would then parade back to his shop and distribute cuts of the meat to the joyous spectators.

Accent and dialect

The Cork accent has a tone which sets it apart from its neighbouring counties. Cork accents also differ significantly on opposite sides of the River Lee. Characteristics include:

• The consonant sound θ (represented by the digraph th) is rarely pronounced.
• Redundant use of the words "like" or "so" to terminate a sentence: e.g. "I don't know him at all, like"
• Use of the words "boy" (often pronounced "by") and girl, to address each other, even into adulthood, e.g. "Come here to me, boy"
• Patterns of tone and intonation rise and fall often, in a way different from other Irish accents, with the overall tone tending to be more high-pitched than the standard Irish accent.
• There is a similarity between the Cork accent and the Liverpudlian ('Scouser') accent in north-west England - owing to the high rate of immigration to Liverpool (especially the Bootle area) from Cork.

English spoken in Cork also has a large number of dialect words that are peculiar to the city and environs. Unlike standard Hiberno-English, most of these dialect words originate not from the Irish language, but through other languages Cork's inhabitants encountered at home and abroad. These include "feen", "beor" and "stella" meaning man, woman, and young woman (derogatory), and "langer" (vulgar) used to describe a penis or an undesirable person. The latter has been gained notoriety throughout Ireland thanks to various comedy skits, notably Gift Grub, and has become strongly associated with the Cork accent.

Media

Broadcast

The city's FM radio band features RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2fm, Lyric FM, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Today FM, and Newstalk. There are also local stations such as Cork's Red FM, Cork's 96FM, 103FM County Sound, CUH FM and Cork Campus Radio.

Cork has also been home to pirate radio stations, most notably South Coast Radio and ERI in the 1980s. Today some small inconsistent pirates prevail though a recent clampdown by Ireland's communications regulator, Comreg, has closed a number of higher profile pirate stations during 2005-2006.

Cork is home to two television stations; RTÉ Cork and South Coast TV. RTÉ broadcasts from its centre in Fr. Matthew Street in the city centre. South Coast TV provides a regional television station for the South of Ireland.

Print

Cork is home to one of Ireland's main national newspapers, the Irish Examiner (formerly the Cork Examiner). The Examiner''s headquarters are situated on Lapp's Quay in the city centre, and were originally located on Academy Street. It also prints the Evening Echo, which for decades has been connected to the Echo Boys, who were poor and often homeless children who sold the newspaper. Today, the shouts of the vendors selling the Echo can still be heard all over the city.

Economy

Retail

The retail trade in Cork City is developing quickly with a mix of both modern, state of the art shopping centres and family owned local shops providing unique and often hand-made crafts. Department Stores can cater for all budgets, with expensive boutiques for one end of the market with many high street stores also available. Shopping centres can be found in many of Cork's suburbs, including Blackpool, Ballincollig, Douglas, Wilton and Mahon. Others are available in the city centre, with plans and excavation work on-going for the development of three more large malls (The Cornmarket Centre on Cornmarket Street - Opening Autumn 2007; Academy Street proposal and the Grand Parade scheme planned for the site of the former Capitol Cineplex, the first multiplex outside of Dublin in Ireland), expanding the capacity of the city centre, to rival that of the suburbs. Cork's main shopping street is St. Patrick's Street and is the most expensive street in the country per sq. metre after Dublin's Grafton Street. Other shopping areas in the city centre include Oliver Plunkett St. and Grand Parade. Cork is also home to some of the country's leading department stores with the foundations of shops such as Dunnes Stores and Roches Stores being laid in Cork City, the latter having sold its core business in 2006 to UK store chain Debenhams.

Industry

Beamish Stout, 1919 advert for the famous Cork brewers

Murphys Stout, 1919 advert for the famous Cork brewery

Cork City is at the heart of industry in the south of Ireland. Its main area of industry is pharmaceuticals, with Pfizer Inc. and Swiss company Novartis being big employers in the region. The most famous product of the Cork pharmaceutical industry is Viagra. Cork is also the European headquarters of Apple Inc. where their high end computers are manufactured and their European call centre, R&D and AppleCare is hosted. In total, they currently employ over 1,800 staff. EMC Corporation is another large I.T. employer with over 1,600 staff in their 52,000 sq metre (560,000 sq. ft.) engineering, manufacturing, and technical services facility. It is also home to the Heineken Brewery which also brews Murphy's Irish Stout and the Beamish and Crawford brewery which have been in the city for generations. And for many years, Cork was the home to Ford Motor Company, which manufactured cars in the docklands area before the plant was closed. Henry Ford's grandfather was from West Cork, which was a main reason for opening up the manufacturing facility in Cork. But technology has replaced the old manufacturing businesses of the 1970s and 1980s, with people now working in the many I.T. centres of the city. Much of Cork's economic success is due to its strategic location near a Harbour, a well educated workforce from two third level universities/ Institute of Technology and a pro business Government policy. Cork's deep harbour allows ships of any size to enter, bringing trade and easy import/export of products. Cork Airport also allows easy access to continental Europe and Kent Station in the city centre provides good rail links for domestic trade. Also, Cork's suburbs have a number of modern industrial estates, with good road links and modern telecommunications to attract both local and foreign investment from Europe, the United States, and Japan. More recently Amazon.com, the online retailer, have set up in Cork Airport Business Park.

Utilities

The headquarters of Bord Gáis Éireann, the Irish Gas Board, are on Gasworks Road, Cork.

Twinned cities

Cork City Corporation began its first twin/sister city programme with Coventry in 1969. Since then, Cork has developed links with several other cities in the areas of culture, education, tourism, science and economics:

1969 - Coventry, England 1982 - Rennes, Brittany, France 1984 - San Francisco, California, U.S.

1988 - Cologne, Germany 1994 - Swansea, Wales 2005 - Shanghai, People's Republic of China

Twinning with Shanghai has led to controversy, as the Green Party called on Cork's local, national and European elected representatives to withdraw the city's twinning with Shanghai due to reports of human rights violations in China. Since then, parties from both Cork and Shanghai have visited their counterparts on trade related missions.

Transportation

Air

Main article: Cork Airport

Cork Airport is one of Ireland's main airports and gateway to the South of Ireland. It is situated on the south side of Cork City in an area known as Ballygarvan. More than 10 scheduled airlines fly to over 50 destinations with over 50 flights a day. The airport continues to grow and a total of 2.730 million passengers used the airport in 2005, and passed the 3 million mark in 2006, which makes it the second busiest airport in the Republic of Ireland after Dublin. The airport recently opened a second terminal able to handle up to three million passengers annually, and allowing for a pier extension which will boost capacity to 5 million. The airport plays a vital role in the development of Cork City, County and other surrounding areas and increased services to mainland Europe continue to develop. However, the national policy of requiring transatlantic flights to stop in Shannon in addition to Cork Airport's relatively short runway have hampered efforts to develop transatlantic services. Recent controversy regarding the new Cork terminal has come to the forefront, with a massive €180 million debt preceding the opening of the terminal, which opened on August 1, 2006.

Bus

City

Cork City's public transportation is provided by the national bus operator Bus Éireann. Routes connect the city centre to the principal suburbs, colleges, shopping centres and places of interest. There are also two city bus routes, Route Numbers 1 and 19, that provide orbital services across the Northern and Southern districts of the city respectively. it is on the road 7 days a week from 06:30 until 23:00.

Suburban

Buses to the outer suburbs, such as Ballincollig, Glanmire and Carrigaline are provided from the city's bus terminal at Parnell Place in the city centre. These suburban services include the Cork Airport shuttle bus (Route Numbers 226 and 249). There is also a park and ride facility in the south suburbs, that allow easy access into the city centre. This is especially popular with students and commuters from not just the far suburbs but also the surrounding towns in County Cork.

Long Distance

Long distance buses depart from the bus terminal in Parnell Place to destinations throughout Ireland. Hourly services run to Killarney/Tralee, Waterford and Shannon Airport/Limerick/Galway and there are six services daily to Dublin. There is also a daily Eurolines bus service that connects Cork to Victoria Bus Station in London via South Wales and Bristol on an overnight sailing from Rosslare.

Ferry

The Cross River Ferry, from Rushbrooke to Passage West, links the R624 to R610. This service is useful when trying to avoid traffic on the Great Island (Cobh). Cork Ferryport is situated at Ringaskiddy, 16 km SE via the N28. A direct sea link is available to Roscoff (France) with Brittany Ferries. A long-established link with Swansea in Wales is currently out of service but it is widely hoped will be reinstated in 2008. A connecting bus service is available from the ferryport to the city centre. Plans for a water taxi service are being finalised to provide traffic free connections for both commuters and tourists alike.

Road

Patricks Bridge

The Cork area has seen improvements in road infrastructure in recent years, especially with regards to National Primary roads. The Cork South Link road (a dual carriageway), built in the early 1980s, linking the Kinsale road roundabout with the city centre was the first of many improvements. Shortly afterwards, the first sections of the South Ring Road (dual carriageway) were opened. Work continued through the 1990s on extending the South Ring Road with the opening of the Jack Lynch Tunnel under the River Lee being the most significant addition. The Kinsale Road flyover opened in August 2006 to remove a major bottleneck for traffic heading to the Airport or Killarney. Also in the 1990s work progressed on the Cork to Midleton dual carriageway and the N8 Glanmire bypass dual carriageway. Other projects completed at this time include the N20 Blackpool bypass and the N20 Cork to Mallow road projects. The N8 Glanmire to Watergrasshill dual carriageway bypass was opened in 2002. The N22 Ballincollig dual carriageway bypass, which links to the Western end of the Cork Southern Ring road was opened in 2004. City Centre road improvements include the Patrick St. project which reconstructed the street with a pedestrian focus. The M8 Rathcormac to Fermoy tolled motorway bypass (17.5 kilometres) has recently been completed and opened in October 2006.

Rail

Railway and tramway heritage

Cork was one of the most rail oriented cities in Ireland, featuring 8 stations at various times. The main route, still much the same today, is from Dublin. Originally terminating on the city's outskirts at Blackpool, the Glanmire tunnel connects it to the city centre terminus of Kent Station. Now a through station, the line through Kent connects the town of Cóbh east of the city. This also connected to the seaside town of Youghal, until the 1980s.

Planned Cork Suburban Railway

Other rail routes terminating or traversing Cork city were the Cork, Blackrock and Passage railway, lines to Macroom and Blarney, as well as the Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway connecting Bantry, Skibbereen, Clonakilty and many other West Cork towns. West Cork trains terminated at Albert Quay, across the river from Kent Station (though an on-street rail 'system' connected the two for rolling stock and cargo movement). All that remains of the once-extensive public transport system is the line to Dublin and that to Cobh.

Within the city there have been two tram networks in operation. A proposal to develop a horse-drawn tram (linking the city's railway termini) was made by American George Francis Train in the 1860s, and implemented in 1872 by the Cork Tramway Company. However, the company ceased trading in 1875 after Cork Corporation refused permission to extend the line.

In December 1898, an electric tram system began operating on the Blackpool-Douglas, Summerhill-Sunday's Well and Tivoli-Blackrock routes. The gauge of the tramway was (90.2cm) (2' 11½"), and designed to be the same as the Muskerry Railway. Increased usage of cars and buses in the 1920s led to a reduction in the use of trams, which discontinued operations permanently on September 30 1931. Place names today still tell of the routes, such as Tramway Terrace in Douglas.

Current routes

• National

Cork's Kent Station is the main train station in the city. From here, services to all over Ireland can be reached. The main line from Cork to Dublin, which is Ireland's busiest rail line, has eight direct departures daily and a number of connecting services. Irish Rail plans to upgrade this line to an hourly service in 2006. Direct InterCity services are also available to Kerry, with direct services to Killarney and Tralee, although most services to Kerry involve a change at Mallow.

• Suburban

The Cork Suburban Rail system also departs from Kent Station and provides frequent connections to most areas of Metropolitan Cork with services to the north and east of the city including Little Island, Mallow, Fota and Cobh. This railway line provides essential transport for the thousands of commuters to the city every day from the city's suburbs. The east of the city is also a scenic route connecting several islands in Cork harbour with the city centre. The train is recommended for travel to Fota Island wildlife park, arboretum, golf club and Cobh Heritage Centre.

In November 2005, the Irish government announced the reopening of the railway line between Glounthaune (on the Cobh line) and Midleton as part of the country's 10 year development plan. New stations will be provided at Carrigtohill on the Midleton branch and at Kilbarry, Monard and Blarney on the Dublin line as part of the plan, along with the already operational Mallow station. The Midleton branch is scheduled to be reopened in 2008.

In April 2007, it was announced that the government was to carry out a feasibility study on bringing light rail to Cork.

Education

Quadrangle at UCC - Irish University of the Year 2005–2006

Main article: Education in Cork

Cork is an important educational centre in Ireland. University College Cork (UCC), a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, offers a wide variety of courses in Arts, Commerce, Engineering, Law, Medicine and Science. The university was named "Irish University of the Year" in 2003–2004 and 2005–2006 by The Sunday Times. Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) was named Irish "Institute of Technology of the Year" in 2006–2007 and offers a variety of third level courses in Mathematics, Computing and IT, Business, Humanities and Engineering (Mechanical, Electronic, Electrical, and Chemical). The National Maritime College of Ireland also located in Cork and is the only college in Ireland in which Nautical Studies and Marine Engineering can be undertaken. CIT also incorporates the Cork School of Music and Crawford College of Art and Design as constituent schools. The Cork College of Commerce is the largest post-Leaving Certificate College in Ireland and is also the biggest provider of Vocational Preparation and Training courses in the country. Other 3rd level institutions include Griffith College Cork which has been offering courses since 1884 and various other colleges. There is also a very large community of students from abroad, especially countries where Cork has twinned cities. The largest group of foreign students comes from China, Shanghai in particular. This is due to the exchange programmes on offer for Chinese students in universities in China. Other non-nationals come from Poland, India, United States and Latvia, as well as "the old EU" countries such as France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

See also: Category:Secondary schools in Cork

Sport

See also: List of Cork people - Sports

Gaelic football, hurling and association football are popular sporting pastimes for Corkonians.

Gaelic games

Main article: Cork GAA

Cork are the record holders for hurling titles, holding 30 titles on the roll of honour. Kilkenny (the current All-Ireland Champions) also hold 30. Hurling is the most popular spectator sport in the city, and has a strong identity with city and county.

Cork have also won 6 Gaelic football titles. There are many Gaelic Athletic Association clubs in Cork City. The main public venues are Páirc Uí Chaoimh and Páirc Uí Rinn (named for Christy Ring).

Association football

Main article: Football League of Ireland in Cork city

Cork City F.C. won the Eircom League in 2005 and also reached the Carlsberg FAI Cup final. They finished 4th in the 2006 season, qualifying for the UEFA Intertoto Cup. They play their home games at Turners Cross stadium on the south side of the city, and regularly attract the largest crowds in the league.

Rugby

Rugby is played at various levels, from school to senior league level. There are two first division clubs in Cork city. Cork Constitution (2 time All Ireland League Champions) play their home games in Ballintemple and Dolphin R.F.C. play at home in Musgrave Park, Pearse Road, Ballyphehane. Other notable rugby clubs in the city include, Highfield, Sunday's Well and UCC. At schools level, Christian Brothers College and Presentation Brothers College are two of the country's better known rugby nurseries.

Munster Rugby plays half of its home matches in the Celtic League at Musgrave Park in Ballyphehane. In the past Heineken Cup matches have also been played at Musgrave Park but now, due to capacity issues these are now played at Thomond Park in Limerick, although matches will be played at Musgrave Park again during the refurbishment of Thomond Park. In May 2006 Munster became the Heineken Cup Champions with many players hailing from Cork city and county.

Water sports

There are a variety of water sports in Cork. Rowing and Sailing have recently grown in popularity. There are five rowing clubs training on the river Lee (UCC Rowing Club UCCRC, Cork Boat Club CBC, Pres Rowing Club PBC, Shandon Boat Club SBC and Lee Rowing Club LRC) and a recently revived coastal rowing club (Blackrock Rowing Club). Naomhóga Chorcaí is a rowing club whose members row traditional naomhóga on the Lee in occasional competitions. The Ocean to City race, held in 2005 and again in 2007, saw teams and boats from many local and visiting clubs race for 24 km (15 mi) from Crosshaven to Cork city centre. The decision to move the National Rowing Center to Inniscarra has boosted numbers involved in the sport. Cork's maritime sailing heritage is maintained through its sailing clubs. The Royal Cork Yacht Club located in Crosshaven (outside the city) is the world's oldest yacht club, and Cork Week ia a notable sailing event.

File:Corkracing.jpg

Cork Racing - Formula Ford

Other sports

There are Cork clubs active nationally in basketball (Neptune and UCC Demons) and golf, pitch and putt, hockey, tennis and athletics clubs in the Cork area. The city is also the home of road bowling, which is played in the northside and south-west suburbs. Boxing and Martial arts, such as Karate and Taekwondo, also command a high level of practise within the city. Cork Racing races in the Irish Formula Ford Championship.

Crime

Cork Courthouse

In early 2003, when ten people died in violent or suspicious circumstances in the city and its environs, it was feared that drug warfare and violent gang attacks were spiralling out of control. Motiveless and unprovoked street assaults caused public outrage, and a number of high profile drug-related killings occurred, notably in Dublin Hill and Barrack Street.

From 2001–2005, Cork's violent crime rate is on a par with other urban areas in Ireland and significantly less than the Dublin Metropolitan Region. Cork City and County experienced (7.8%) of all burglaries outside Dublin over the last 12 months.

Further reading

• Merchants, Mystics and Philanthropists - 350 Years of Cork Quakers Richard S. Harrison Published by Cork Monthly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) 2006

See also

• Metropolitan Cork
• County Cork
• West Cork
• Cork Harbour
• List of Cork people
• Historic Cork Gardens
• Fota Island
• Cork City (Parliament of Ireland constituency)
• List of towns in the Republic of Ireland

External links

• Template:Wikitravel
• Cork City Council site (including strategic plan and housing strategy)
• The Peoples Republic Of Cork
• Architecture of Cork
• Port of Cork
• A Dictionary of Cork Slang
• Cork's War of Independence
• corkspace - community generated images of Cork City
• ENFO Publications - Medieval Cork