Michael Moynihan: Accepting Cork has flaws after CNN reporter's 'tatty' claim

As we’ve seen with dereliction, the problems only arise when those flaws are accepted as normality, writes Michael Moynihan

North Main Street in Cork City has struggled with dereliction.

‘YOU DON’T have to sell Cork to me, Huw. After all, to me it’s the most important city in the world. It doesn’t have the spectacular Georgian beauty of Dublin, but it has a quiet charm of its own. You always feel that Dublin is going to get up and address you as if you were at a public meeting, but in Cork, you get the impression that at any moment you may meet one of Jane Austen’s old ladies among the bow-fronted houses.”

We’ll begin with Frank O’Connor’s famous description of Cork, delivered to Huw Wheldon of the BBC when the pair visited the city for a documentary programme in the ‘60s.