Council to vote on disposal of part of Bishop Lucey Park for €1

Cork City Council will vote this month on whether to dispose of a section of land in Bishop Lucey Park to the Freemasons, for a price of €1.

City Council chief executive Ann Doherty issued a statutory notice, dated June 29, proposing to make a disposal of “any right, title, estate or any interest” Cork City Council may have over an area of ground in the park off the Grand Parade for a sum of €1, plus costs of €1,500 VAT for “social reasons” including that it be made available to the community for at least 20 hours per month.

The area of ground it is proposed to dispose of comprises a plot of land situated to the rear of the Masonic Hall, No 27, Tuckey Street, Cork, and was acquired by Cork City Council from GP Holdings Ltd by way of conveyance and assignment, on March 2, 1995. The disposal is subject to certain conditions, including that Craft Properties Ltd agree to any programme of works affecting Bishop Lucey Park with the Infrastructure and Operations Directorates of Cork City Council.

Craft Craft Properties Ltd are to enter into an agreement with Cork City Council to allow third party groups access to the building, for a minimum of up to 20 hours a month, at times convenient to the orderly management of the building, for purposes which may include “community, social, musical, historical, ethnic, minority religious, and other uses, on either a free or costs only basis, with a code of conduct to be developed between the Council and the Freemasons, and with an annual review of the arrangements to be undertaken”.

Green Party councillor Dan Boyle said that a vote will be required to dispose of this section to the freemasons, including the price. A previous vote that took place was for planning permission only, and did not transfer that section of the park, said his party colleague Councillor Oliver Moran.

Mr Boyle said the vote will take place at the July 10 meeting of Cork City Council. “We still have concerns in the Green Party, but the material contravention passed a number of months ago,” he said.

“Our concern has been the compromising of the park itself, the removal of 15 mature trees, and their replacement with semi-mature trees. It’s a bigger undertaking than we considered in the first instance. It’s a kind of a double whammy, in terms of how this space is to be a public space in the future,” he said.

Once the vote is cast, a majority vote in favour would result in the immediate transfer of ownership. “The work on the development of the park is meant to happen in September in any case,” added Mr Boyle.

The Freemasons are required to comply with certain health and safety conditions in relation to their building. The option considered was to transfer about 56 sqm of land in the park adjacent to the Freemason building into their ownership so they could comply with a fire escape regulation.

This section contained about 15 Beech trees, and it is where the annual Chernobyl Celebration takes place. “People have sympathy with the freemasons and their need for a fire escape,” said Mr Boyle. 

“The removal of 15 trees and their replacement with semi-mature trees is not a good signal. The city centre is an area where green space is of a premium. Trees are far less than what they should be in equivalent cities. We don’t perform that well. We’re trying to catch up and this is a move in the wrong direction, as far as the Greens are concerned.”