Cork City Council chief outlines bold vision for the docklands and cultural quarter

In her first sit-down media interview as Cork City Council chief executive, Valerie O'Sullivan discusses her hopes and plans for the city and its expansive docklands

A panoramic aerial shot of the docklands area of Cork taken mid April 2025

A new cultural quarter on South Main St, optimism around delivering homes for 25,000 people in the docklands, and a belief that the Counting House would be "fantastic as a library" are some of the key targets of the new head of Cork City Council.

In her first comprehensive interview as the local authority’s second female chief executive, Valerie O’Sullivan said: "There’s a window of opportunity that exists for Cork now to do things and to do them right, and we have to walk through it.