Sean O’Hagan returns to 'cosmopolitan' Cork

When Sean O’Hagan returns to Cork this week he hopes to visit the Apple complex in Hollyhill.

O’Hagan left Ireland in the mid-1980s with the country deep in the economic doldrums and Cork on the way to becoming a rustbelt town. Thirty years later, he is struck by the changes every time he comes back.

“It seems pretty cosmopolitan now,” says the 56-year-old. “Everything feels very international. You go out to places like the Glen and Blackrock and there are massive amounts of development.