Future Cork: A city's vitality is more important than regulatory perfection

My absurd experience advising nuns about fire safety in a beautiful Georgian convent taught me the most important thing about a building is the life inside it

The Convent of the Sacred Heart in Scartagh, Clonakilty, Cork: My reverend mother friend may have been in an enclosed order, but she understood the outside world better than the bureaucrats. Cities without activity serve no purpose. Picture: iStock

Years ago, I was summoned by an enclosed order of nuns to offer professional advice regarding their beautiful Georgian convent. Located in the heart of an Irish city, though not Cork, the building was the very definition of a time capsule. It radiated an intensity of atmosphere I'd never before experienced. 

But new fire regulations were threatening to put an end to the nuns' traditional industry: the baking of communion hosts.