Peter Dowdall: 'Green walls are vital to Cork city's future'

'Wouldn’t it be great if derelict buildings, instead of being covered in graffiti and stickers, were smothered in plants?'

Irish Examiner garden columnist Peter Dowdall at Elizabeth Fort in Cork. Pictures: Howard Crowdy

It is a cacophony of birdsong when you step outside right now. 

It sounds lovely to this mere mortal and I don’t know enough to know if the noises are actually aggressive males marking their territory or if it is more romantic and musical as they serenade the object of their desires. Unfortunately, in our cities, we don’t hear it as much as in suburban and rural areas.