Cork Lord Mayor's got pedal power with gift of new bike

For more than 80 years, the Lord Mayor of Cork has been presented with a new car at the start of their term, but now a local charity has added a bicycle to our first citizen’s transport options.

Fianna Fáil councillor Fergal Dennehy, Lord Mayor of Cork, paid a visit to Deaf Enterprises in Ballinlough this week, and — admiring the work of the Sign and Cycle project, where employees can train to become bicycle mechanics by recycling and repairing bikes — let slip that when he was a child, his favourite hobby had been rebuilding bikes.

Claire O’Mahony, employment assistance officer at Deaf Enterprises, told him that was good to hear, “because we want to give you a bike for your year as Lord Mayor, just the same way that Ford lend you a car”.

Mr Dennehy, visibly moved, said he had promised former Green Party councillor Colette Finn of the Cork Cycling Network that he would cycle to events in the city centre, and he suggested that his driver, the legendary Finbarr Archer, would have to sit on the back.

Following considerable mess-acting, it was decided that while the Lord Mayor could cycle, Mr Archer would drive the car and transport the Lord Mayor’s 238-year-old chain.

“The chain is priceless, but I’m not,” Mr Dennehy said.

“I don’t really know what to say, I’m so grateful for your kindness, and I promise to make good use of the bike during my time in office.”

Deaf Enterprises was founded in 1987 by Fr Bill Clarke, and it is Ireland’s only dedicated employer of people who are deaf or hard of hearing. In the years since it opened, it has earned a reputation for high quality furniture repair, re-upholstery, French polishing, and renovation.

In recent years, the Sign and Cycle project, which employs six people, has restored more than 700 bicycles.

The deaf community has historically suffered from disproportionately high levels of unemployment, and the Cork social enterprise currently employs 35 staff, 28 of whom are deaf or hard of hearing, or identify as having a disability

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