Relevant Council Departments will meet together to discuss moving away from the bonfire night

Councillor Kenneth O’Flynn has welcomed the announcement by Cork City Council, that following a motion he placed before them, the relevant Council Departments will meet together to discuss moving away from the bonfire night and towards more community based activities for 23 June.

The original motion to Cork City Council was as follows; “That this Council would put in place a blanket ban on bonfires in the City 365 days a year. In particular the 23 June would no longer be known as ‘Bonfire Night’ but rather ‘Community BBQ Night’ similar to block parties that are organised in the United States.”

Speaking on the new plans in place by the Council O’Flynn said; “I welcome this move by the Council. Bonfire night has become an excuse for vandalism and anti-social behaviour and each year the emergency services are placed under tremendous pressure as a consequence bonfire night.




O’Flynn continued; “I hope as a result of this action by the Council we will see communities holding block parties with a BBQ, games and fun events organised around it. I think that while the positive aspect of bonfire night has always been the Community input, this has been hijacked by those who simply start fires on the night without any regard for anyone else.”

In Cllr. O’Flynn’s opinion the new scheme will be a great way for communities to organise events in a way to brings people together for the purpose of having a fun night that is inclusive of all the community.

O’Flynn welcomes Senior Citizen Announcement

O’Flynn welcomes Senior Citizen Announcement


Councillor Kenneth O’Flynn has welcomed the announcement that following a motion he put before Cork City Council, the Council will write to all Senior Citizens, informing them of the relevant Council authorise to deal with any queries which they might have.
In his original motion Councillor O’Flynn called for the establishment of a senior citizen liaison officer that would be able to deal with issues such as housing allocation, housing maintenance, grants, waiver forms and other issues which effect older people in Cork City.
The announcement that the City will now provide Senior Citizens with contact details of City Officials is a welcome one according to the Northside based Councillor. Speaking on this O’Flynn said; “I found many of our Senior Citizens were having great difficulty in contacting the Council and as such I felt it was the duty of the Council to make it easier to do so and improve communication. I think that this is a most welcome step in the right direction.”
Speaking on his reason for putting forward the motion initially O’Flynn said; “meeting regularly with Senior Citizen groups, I found they experienced a lot of confusion when dealing with City Council and felt that they are being bounced from pillar to post in dealing with various issues. In some cases they were only provided with an email address to make contact with the relevant authorities which was not always feasible. This announcement thus is a welcome improvement and one I am glad to support fully.”

Councillor Kenneth O’Flynn welcomed the announcement that the Christmas Market will take place again this year

Councillor Kenneth O’Flynn welcomed the announcement that the Christmas Market will take place again this year. Councillor O’Flynn said that the event last year was very successful and it gives a good boost to the city centre and adds a positive atmosphere to the Grand Parade and really captures the mood of the season. “With there being so much doom and gloom going around at the moment, I feel free events like this are what is needed to lift peoples spirits. Not only will it benefit the other traders in the city, but it will encourage people from outside the city to come and visit Cork.”

Councillor O’Flynn went on to say; “Last year alone over 120,000 visited the Market and this year it is hope numbers will be larger. I know of people who came from across Munster and further a field and they will be returning again this year to visit the Christmas market.”

While the event has been announced, plans still remain in place to ensure the success of the event. Councillor O’Flynn from his own interest in the project promises to examine and work closely with event planning committee to ensure that the Cork City Christmas Market becomes a major event in the cities calendar and something that people everywhere