Taoiseach Micheál Martin: ‘Cork is still a very vibrant sporting city’

TAOISEACH Micheál Martin has said 2025 was an important year for Cork in terms of transport, culture, and housing infrastructure, and that he hopes for the progression of key healthcare and road projects next year.

Mr Martin this month attended the commencement of construction for the €93m redevelopment of Crawford Art Gallery, and he told The Echo it was one of the highlights of the last year for him.

“Investment wise, I was delighted to get the Crawford gallery over the line. A very substantial investment in heart of the city in the cultural side, I think it will be a transformative building that will live long into the future. It’s a national cultural institution,” he said.

He added that policing was another highlight, with a permanent high-visibility policing plan beginning in the city centre in November, with gardaí on the beat from 8am to 4am every day across key areas of the city centre.

“There will be increased gardaí this year that we’ve secured from Templemore, 62 probationer gardaí allocated in 2025. That will make a big difference in terms of garda visibility.”

He also highlighted several road, public transport, and active travel projects — including the M28 Cork to Ringaskiddy motorway — as Cork County Council signed signed a €206m contract with BAM to build the section of motorway from Bloomfield interchange on the N40 South Ring Rd to Barnahely, near the Port of Cork, with the project expected to be completed by summer 2028.

“The M28 is massive, and we also want to progress the Cork to Limerick road and the Northern Distributor Rd, which is very important to get a greater flow of traffic through the northern side of the city.

“BusConnects has been approved by Government for Cork, and there will be some significant investment there. We will continue with the Cork commuter rail project, electrification of carriages, and so on. That’s gone very well, it’s been a very fast project.

“I’m delighted in particular with the active travel investments, I’m thrilled with the Marina, I utilise it myself. It’s just fantastic to behold now, you see people using it at the weekend, and the Atlantic Pond is now done with some enhanced features, that whole area has become a delightful place.”

In terms of the Cork Luas, he said: “There’s a bit of work in that, the proposed route has been published, there’s been ongoing consultation, submissions have been made from the public, we have to progress the finalisation of the route selection and then progress it — that’s a very important project.”

He also said he was “delighted” with the progress made by Kabin Crew, a rap group made up of children based in Knocknaheeny, saying: “I’d hope we can shine a further spotlight on them in the coming years.

“When I bump into U2 every now and again, I tell them that Kabin Crew have been one of the great outcomes of Music Generation [a national music education programme of which the band were among the original founders].”

“Another big story this year has been the Cork hurlers, and I’d like to pay tribute to them for delivering so much joy.

“We didn’t win the All-Ireland, but the movement that was Cork hurling this year was phenomenal, all venues had huge number of Cork supporters.

“Hurling is on the up in Cork, young people are very attached to it, and I follow the footballers as well and the camogie and ladies football team — Cork is still a very vibrant sporting city.”

On housing, the Taoiseach said: “Over the last five years there’s been about 17,000 new houses built in Cork city and county.

“Cork continues to do well on housing relative to other areas — we’ve a lot to do, don’t get me wrong — but that Ballyvolane site of 700 houses, I am particularly impressed with the speed and the utilisation of modern methods of construction there.”

Mr Martin, in November, visited the development in Longview, Ballyvolane, where more than 700 new homes are expected to be delivered with the help of Enterprise Ireland’s Built to Innovate programme.

He added: “We get a lot of Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) funding, Cork got €46m some years ago for Grand Parade.

“We’re still awaiting the council’s response on the library project.”

Some of the funding allocation went towards the €7m redevelopment of Bishop Lucey Park, which opened recently, with plans for a new city library still in the discussion phase.

Another recipient of URDF funding and a project which has seen exciting progress this year is the docklands.

Mr Martin said: “The docklands got around €360m allocated, it is powering ahead, and there’s some very important about projects starting now that will continue to provide significant economic activity.”

He said that “there’s been very significant additional health staff in Cork as well” this year, but that he was hoping 2026 “that we can progress the elective hospital in Glanmire”.

“There’s ongoing work going on between the council and the HSE with some issues there, but I would be pushing them both to really push hard, overcome those barriers, and make sure we get the elective hospital progressed. It’s very important for the city as a whole and particularly the northside.”

Plans for the regional elective surgical hospital on the old St Stephen’s Hospital site in Glanmire are currently delayed due to issues with road infrastructure, the Oireachtas health committee was told earlier this year, as existing road infrastructure might not be sufficient to support the construction phase or the development itself, with the possibility that lands might need to be acquired to improve the roads.

Mr Martin added: “Another big thing for 2026 will be investment in Tyndall. One of the most important research institutes in the country, it helps attract a lot of foreign direct investment, and it’s set for a major investment next year.”

He added that both Cork Airport and the Port of Cork are “doing very well”, with both set to see significant developments in the coming years.

With the assistance of grant funding support from the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and financial support from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), the port is completing the construction of the €100m Core 1 (Cork Offshore Renewable Energy 1), a new multi-purpose deepwater berth at Ringaskiddy. As Ireland’s first and only Core onshore infrastructure resource, this project positions Cork at the heart of Ireland’s offshore renewable energy future.

Mr Martin also launched capital investment plans for Cork Airport this year, outlining an investment of €200m by DAA in the airport to include the construction of a new mezzanine floor; a new and larger duty-free shop; the extension of car parks; and the demolition of the old terminal and old control tower, allowing the construction of a new pier with more boarding gates and aircraft parking stands.

Overall, Mr Martin said 2025 had been a great year for his home county, adding that he hopes: “Next year will see further investment in Cork, further growth in Cork and an All-Ireland or two.”