A tale of two cities: Does Cork City Council spend more on the northside or southside?
Census 2022 figures show the population of Cork City is 222,333. Picture: Denis Scannell
It’s a tale of two cities but not as you would expect. The northside of Cork city is set to get more State investment per capita than the southside, according to a major new analysis of funding over almost a decade.
People living on the northside will see almost €1,000 more in capital investment per head compared to those living south of the Lee between 2017 and 2026, undermining a key Sinn Féin argument this year that the northside suffers from a distinct geographical funding imbalance.
A new analysis of State capital investment in the city between 2017 and 2026 shows that €59m more will be invested in the southside, an area with a population just over 115,000, compared to the northside, with a population of almost 71,000.
But when those population figures are factored in, the analysis shows that the northside does better overall — with nearly €1,000 more per capita invested in the northside than in the southside.
Despite that, the northside still has some of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the city, according to the Pobal HP deprivation index, which measures the relative affluence or disadvantage of a particular geographical area.
Sinn Féin organised a protest outside City Hall last February over what it claimed was a funding imbalance which favoured the southside, with the party’s TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, presenting a raft of figures which he said showed how the lion’s share of recent State investment in urban regeneration projects, on national roads, and on active or sustainable travel projects, had been earmarked for projects south of the river Lee.
Almost three times more will be spent on sustainable transport projects on the southside than on projects on the northside alone, he said.
“We can see clearly the neglect of the northside. This is extremely frustrating for me and for my constituents who are constantly put on the long finger for desperately needed investment,” he said.
The party analysed several recent and significant funding announcements for the city and argued most of it was being invested in projects on the southside. That included some €405m for urban regeneration projects on the southside. Its analysis also shows some €5.79m in sustainable transport funding had been allocated to 12 greenway or cycle lane projects on the northside in comparison to €15.775m for 31 projects on the southside.
Similarly, 13 active travel projects on the northside have been allocated €4.9m — about €350,000 per project — while those on the southside have been allocated an average of €620,000, with a total of €18.6m being spent on 29 projects.
The party also claimed Transport Infrastructure Ireland’s (TII) national roads grants have seen just €300,000 allocated for the much-needed Northern Ring Road project, which the party fears could be decades away.
Mr Gould said he did not want to start a northside versus southside debate, because all the projects on the southside deserved the funding, but he said there were many projects across the northside that could benefit from various funding streams.
But, in the following weeks, Sinn Féin councillors Mick Nugent and Ken Collins tabled a motion calling on the council to “address the imbalance in funding allocations northside and southside”.
They called for a specific focus on urban regeneration and development funding, on sustainable transport funding, on TII grant allocations for national roads, and for active travel projects, to ensure the council examines the “significant opportunities on the northside” for such funding schemes to “unlock the potential identified” in the city development plan.
That led to the compilation of a detailed report analysing the distribution of investment city-wide since 2017, which was presented to the council’s strategic and economic development strategic policy committee, and which came up for discussion at November’s council meeting.
The council’s head of finance, John Hallahan, and the council’s head of strategic and economic development, Fearghal Reidy, analysed Cork City Council’s total capital spend of some €294m between 2017 and 2021.
That capital spend is projected to almost double to €558m between now and 2026, bringing to over €851m the total forecast capital investment in that period.
It includes investment in housing, amenities, culture and community services, and transport projects, in the city’s urban towns and neighbourhoods, along with regeneration of key areas in the city centre and the docklands, against the backdrop of a city development plan which provides a framework for the population of the city to increase from 210,853 people in 2016 to 263,602 people by 2028.
Officials then drilled down into the distribution of the capital investment by analysing the spend per capita — a more accurate way of assessing the distribution of the spending, they said.
They used the 2022 census figure for the population of Cork City of some 222,333, but then excluded the 24,400 population figure for the city centre and docklands drawn from the 2016 census, the most recent year for when population figures at this level are available.
They then analysed the spent northside versus southside, by looking at what will be invested in the city’s north-east local electoral area (LEA), which includes areas such as Blackpool, Mayfield, Montenotte, The Glen, Tivoli, as well as parts of Rathcooney and Riverstown; and the north-west LEA, which includes Churchfield, Fair Hill, Farranferris, Gurranabraher, Knocknaheeny, Shanakiel, Shandon, and Sunday’s Well.
Excluding the city centre and docklands areas, they then compared the investment in those northside areas with the spend per capita in the three southside LEAs — the south-east LEA, which includes Ballinlough, Mahon, parts of Douglas; the south-central LEA, which includes Ballyphehane, Greenmount, The Lough, Togher and Turners Cross; and the south-west LEA, which includes Bishopstown, Glasheen, Togher and Ballincollig.
They established the total spend in all LEAs, excluding the city centre and docklands between 2017 and 2021 was about €245m — €113.7m in the two northside LEAs and just over €132m in the southside LEAs.
The investment between now and 2026 is projected to be €153m for the northside LEAs and €194m for the southside LEAs.
That brings the total investment between 2017 and 2026 to €267m on the northside, and €326m on the southside.
But then they compared the investment against the populations in those areas — almost 71,000 people living in the two northside LEAs, and just over 115,200 people living in the three southside LEAs, according to the 2016 census.
That analysis shows the capital spend per capita across the five LEAs between 2017 and 2026 will be €3,192.
But the capital spend per capita in the northern LEAs will be higher at €3,772, while it is almost €1,000 less in the three southern LEAs, at €2,835 per capita.
Cork City councillor Mick Nugent welcomed the report but he said he was not sure if he could accept the per capita analysis, and said the fact remains that more money is spent on the southside. He also said if investment in the docklands, most of which is on the southside, is included, the northside is losing out significantly when compared to investment in the southside.
Green Party councillor Oliver Moran also pointed out that the level of investment is often an index of deprivation.
“If a lot of money is being spent in an area, it’s maybe because there is a lot of poverty in the area that needs to be addressed. And that’s certainly the case in this city.
“We have a city that is to its core divided north and south when it comes to deprivation. It stands out on a map, in charts and in figures.
"It’s whether you use an index for disadvantage overall, whether you break it down by households who are renting, by third-level education, it is across all measures of deprivation.”
But Fianna Fáil seized on the analysis, with Cork City councillor John Sheehan thanking Sinn Féin for tabling the motion which he said has revealed the level of investment the Government has made in the city’s northside.
“This isn’t a measure of everything. There is a lot of deprivation on the northside, but to the credit of the council and the State, there is over 30% higher spend in the northside to try to help rectify that,” he said.
“But this is only one small measure. Deis schools are another example.
“There are challenges, in terms of deprivation, third-level education, training, opportunities, transport, housing and infrastructure.
“There are huge opportunities in the area we represent.
"We are biased but it has some of the strongest communities in the city and we hope to build on that in the future.”
Party colleague Tony Fitzgerald, a resident of Knocknaheeny for over 40 years, said the figures in the analysis must have come as a disappointment to the Sinn Féin party, which now cannot use the data to score political points.
“This motion is nothing but political and has no interest in the people they are supposed to represent,” he said.
He highlighted the scale of investment in the northside, including some €350,000 in the Sláintecare healthy communities initiative, Rapid funding, and almost €95m in the north-west housing regeneration scheme, which has been under way for several years, and questioned the use of terms like “disadvantaged” and “socially deprived”.
“Because I’m from Knocknaheeny. I don’t feel socially deprived. And I’m not disadvantaged. And I know my friends and neighbours living up there are not. We have challenges, but so do many other parts of the city. We don’t want a divided city here,” he said.
The council said it would continue to work with a range of Government departments and State agencies, including TII, the National Transport Authority, the Department of Housing, to advance the objectives of the new city development plan.
It pointed out Irish Rail was advancing plans to develop a suburban rail link running from Midleton and Cobh, through Kent Station to the north-east and north-west LEAs.
The officials also said the council would be preparing regeneration plans for specific areas throughout the city, and the investment needed, so it would be ready for the relevant funding streams as they become available.
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