Council plays down Gavin sky garden row

CORK City Council has played down reports of a row with celebrity gardener Diarmuid Gavin over the funding of a gold medal- winning garden, which will become the focal point of a new park in the city.

Yesterday Damien O’Mahony, head of the council’s tourism, events, arts and marketing team, said they had “pulled out all the stops” to ensure Mr Gavin was reimbursed expeditiously for any personal outlay on the project. Mr Gavin’s sky garden, inspired by the film Avatar, won gold at the recent Chelsea Flower Show and will, from next spring, form part of Cork city’s tourist attractions.

Fáilte Ireland put up the bones of €2 million towards the project, which Cork City Council drew down and administered. However, Mr Gavin expressed his frustration with delays in recouping funding from the council in a letter written earlier this year to former PD minister Liz O’Donnell, the contents of which were reported in a Sunday newspaper. Mr Gavin said the council was “extremely difficult to deal with” and he wrote of sitting around in council offices for an hour- and-a-half waiting to meet with officials.