Forgetting the past

THE news that Queen Elizabeth will be visiting Cork’s English Market led to my finding out that the Butter Market there has been closed since 1920.

Could this closure have been connected with the activities of those praised by Lloyd George that year, which were “getting the right men” such as Lord Mayor MacCurtain or in burning down the co-operative creameries founded under the inspiration of Sir Horace Plunkett? It’s nice to know how much of that is forgotten now, and how a matured Ireland can believe that butter wouldn’t melt in a gracious lady’s mouth.

Donal Kennedy