Call to ‘rebalance’ naming of Cork’s bridges after men

There have been calls to name Cork’s newest bridge after a woman, and for the public to have a say.

The call came from FF Cllr John Sheehan, following a progress update on the €3.5m Harley St pedestrian-and-cycle bridge proposed over the north channel of the River Lee, between Brian Boru Bridge and St Patrick’s Bridge.

Funded by the EU and the National Transport Authority, it has been designed to improve pedestrian and cycle connectivity between MacCurtain St and the city centre.

It will link Merchant’s Quay to St Patrick’s Quay, and will land on the northern quays at Harley St, alongside the Metropole Hotel (which has lodged plans for a €50m revamp).

Following an international design competition, ARUP Consulting Engineers and Wilkinson Eyre Architects were chosen to design the bridge.

Their outline design, a low-lying, semi-elliptical, single-span bridge, with a parapet-to-parapet width of 5.4m, widening to 7.2m, went on public display in July, as part of the Part 8 planning process.

On Monday, councillors were told 13 submissions were received from the public, and the head of the city’s roads and transportation directorate, Gerry O’Beirne, outlined the council’s response to each.

In a report to councillors, he said Cork Chamber called for the effective communication of a traffic-management system during the bridge’s construction.

Following a query from the boat-building organisation Meitheal Mara, he said the bridge would have adequate navigational clearance, but he ruled out a suggestion from a Mr Ernest Nelson to include a “musical feature” as part of the design as a tourist attraction.

“The winning design team were conscious of the fact that the proposed bridge should not compete with the historically important St Patrick’s bridge, but complement the environment,” he said.

Cllr Sheehan welcomed the progress update, but said he would like the bridge to be named after a woman.

“We have over 20 bridges in Cork City and all but one — the Nano Nagle bridge — are named after men. I would like to start to rebalance that,” he said.

“There are many women we could honour — Mother Jones, Rena Buckley, Mary Elmes, Sonia O’Sullivan.

“People often get caught up in the names, but I would like to establish, as a point of principle, now, that we would name this bridge after a woman.”

He also called for a change in city policy, which dictates that such naming decisions are made by an internal council committee.

“I would welcome moves to put this decision out for public debate,” he said.

“It may unearth someone who might be equally deserving, but it also gives people ownership of part of the city.”

It is hoped construction will start early next year.