Cork city councillors pay tribute to outgoing chief executive

Ann Doherty said running a city is a “team sport”, and urged the Government to help deliver the long-delayed Cork Event Centre.

Cork City Council chief executive Ann Doherty at the opening of Mary MacSwiney Court. Picture: Alison Miles /OSM PHOTO

The outgoing chief executive of Cork City Council used her last council meeting after a decade in the job to urge the Government to approve additional State funding to secure delivery of the city’s long-awaited event centre.

Ann Doherty said the proposed 6,000-seat venue, a project she has been pursuing on behalf of the council since its sod was turned in 2016, will act as a massive economic stimulus for the city, supporting 900 jobs during construction and a further 800 long-term once built, and will attract up to 500,000 people to the city annually.

Then-taoiseach Enda Kenny ‘turned the sod’ on the €50m Cork Event Centre in 2016. Picture: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision

The contentious issue of approving substantial additional funding beyond the €57m in State aid already pledged is expected to be discussed by Cabinet before the Dáil summer recess next week.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin and former Finance Minister Michael McGrath have, in recent weeks, indicated strong Government support for the project. It is understood that additional State aid of up to €40m could be sanctioned.

Ms Doherty made her comments after councillors spent almost an hour paying tribute to her at her last council meeting on Monday night.

She made history in 2014 when she became the council’s first female chief executive. She is due to step down in the next few weeks.

Fianna Fáil councillor Terry Shannon praised her stewardship of the organisation during the covid pandemic but said her work to help secure the expansion of the city boundary in 2019 will serve as her lasting legacy.

“Cork’s expanded boundary, to grow to five times its size, and the success of that is your legacy,” he said. 

The city can be very proud that we have done that, and have a roadmap to the future."

Fine Gael councillor Des Cahill said Ms Doherty will be remembered as a great chief executive, while Sinn Féin councillor Fiona Kerins thanked her for professionalism but she said many of the issues faced by council when she took up her role remain, citing the Noonan’s Road flats issue where “local government has failed people”.

Green Party councillor Oliver Moran said her conduct in the job was a counter-argument for a directly elected mayor, as he praised her for standing by elected members as the source of policy, which he said is “sadly too rare amongst CEs”.

Independent councillor Kieran McCarthy praised Ms Doherty for her humour, wit, and energy and for building bridges with stakeholders across the city.

However, while wishing Ms Doherty well, Worker’s Party councillor Ted Tynan listed a raft of issues of huge concern, including the public funding for the event centre, lack of housing maintenance, the poor quality of water supply to parts of the city, and lack of footpath maintenance.

Ann Doherty speaking at a Cork Business Association Breakfast Briefing in The Metropole Hotel. Picture: Larry Cummins

Ms Doherty said running a city is a “team sport” and she paid tribute to her senior management team and the elected members.

She urged the new council and incoming chief executive to begin work on the organised withdrawal from the 10-year boundary extension compensation payment arrangement with the county council, and she pointed to the massive increase in the delivery of social and affordable housing, from just a handful in 2014 to 4,233 last year.

“While we can always say we need more, collectively, we need to acknowledge the delivery,” she said.

She pointed to the creation of some 5,000 new jobs in the city’s docklands, and the scale of investment under way across the city centre, including in the development of Marina Park, Bishop Lucey Park, Morrison’s Island, and the public realm around South Main St.