More than 1,500 signatures for petition to rename stretch of road on Cork's northside after Con O’Leary 

EFFORTS are underway to rename a stretch of road on the northside of the city in honour of a former councillor and businessowner who “helped everybody behind the scenes”.

Sinn Féin councillor Kenneth Collins will table a motion at the next full meeting of Cork City Council proposing that the local authority would rename a section of Gurranabraher Rd to ‘Con’s Hill’ in memory of former Cork city councillor Con O’Leary, who passed away in recent weeks.

A much-loved shopkeeper for over 50 years, Mr O’Leary was elected to represent the city’s former north-central ward as an Independent councillor in 1991 and 1999.

The Gurranabraher native passed away in Gran Canaria last month.

The section of road that would be considered for renaming would be from the junction of Mount Nebo Avenue to Friars Avenue.

Gurranabraher Rd is the location of Con’s Shop, which is still in the O’Leary family.

Petition 

A friend of the family for many years, Mr Collins said he developed the motion in conjunction with Mr O’Leary’s daughters, and that a petition has also been launched in support of the proposed renaming.

“There’s an online petition going on at the moment.

“I set it up in the last few days, we have about 570 online signatures and over 1,000 signatures on the physical petition in the shop,” Mr Collins said.

“I’m from Gurranabraher, and all my life I’ve known it as Con’s Hill.”

Mr Collins described the late Mr O’Leary as “a real character” and as someone who epitomised kindness and compassion.

“He was one of these guys that everybody went to.

“He helped everybody behind the scenes.

“The family are hearing stories of what he did for people and got no recognition for it.

“He just went about his business and got things done — even through the shop and helping people out when they had no money,” he said.

Motion

Mr Collins said while he is hopeful that the motion to rename the section of the road will be supported “across the board” in the council chamber, implementing such a change might face “red tape”.

“Con fits all the criteria [to have the section of road named in his honour] except one — a person has to be deceased for 20 years,” he explained.

Mr Collins said if the motion passes, the city council will need to call on the Government to change this piece of legislation to enable the renaming.

Deborah, one of Con’s daughters, said: “As a family, we are very proud that the people of Gurranabraher and surrounding areas want to honour dad in this way. We know that he would have been delighted with it all.

“We are also very grateful to dad’s good friend Kenneth Collins for helping to make this happen.”

Anyone looking to sign the petition can do so in person at Con’s Shop or online at change.org by searching ‘Con’s Hill’.