City on the ball for US visit
Mayor of Co Cork, Barbara Murray, welcomed a delegation from Maryland at a reception in County Hall to sign a friendship agreement. Led by Maryland’s secretary of state, John McDonough, the delegation is on a three-day visit to Cork co-hosted by University College Cork, Cork County Council, and Cork City Council.
During its visit to Cork, the delegation also visited UCC, the Tyndall National Institute, and Irish Maritime and Energy Research Centre.
The visit included a lunch at UCC where an accord between both cities’ universities was also signed. The event was hosted by UCC president, Dr Michael Murphy, and it followed a display of Irish sports at the Mardyke Sports Grounds.
During the lunch, Dr Murphy alluded to UCC’s current conundrum: “Our motto is ‘where Finbarr taught, let Munster learn’.” However, the college’s historians are now convinced that, wherever Finbarr taught, it wasn’t Cork.
He suggested a solution: “Our new motto could read: Where people thought that Finbar taught, let Munster learn.”
The delegation met IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland-supported companies with links to Maryland and the US. After a tour of the English Market the delegation will visit Cobh Heritage Centre before leaving for Dublin to see the Fighting Irish take on the US Navy in an American football display.
