Street ceremony - City fathers get bus on car-free day

AFTER three years of living in a virtual bomb site, the people of Cork have good reason to welcome yesterday’s ceremonial handing back of Patrick Street to the public.

And as they stroll down Patrick Street, future generations will have reason to applaud Spanish architect Beth Galli, who has breathed new life into the heart of the city by giving pedestrians precedence over the car, a rare thing nowadays.

Ironically, though yesterday was officially designated a car-free day across Europe, most of the city fathers present at the ceremony got there on a CIÉ park-and-ride bus, adroitly skirting areas where mechanical diggers are still ripping up the streets.

It would only have taken about 11 minutes for councillors to stroll from the City Hall to Daunt Square.

Symbolically, on a day when other citizens were expected to walk in the city centre, the bus jaunt sent out a wrong message.