Former mayor launches book on his time leading Cork City Hall

To say something is a dream come true is a cliché, but for Kieran McCarthy, becoming lord mayor of Cork in 2023 was literally that.

He once told this reporter that when he was a small boy he would look up to the window of the lord mayor’s office, imagining that one day he would wear the chain of office of his city.

“When I was a kid, I’d be below looking up,” he said, “and I’d say, ‘Some day…’” 

That day came in 2023, when the outgoing lord mayor, then Fine Gael councillor Deirdre Forde, passed the chain to the Ballinlough native and Independent councillor.

Now Mr McCarthy has produced a record of his lord mayoralty, written alongside Marcelline Bonneau, his former lady mayoress – and always, he told the book’s launch in City Hall, the lady mayoress of his heart.

The book, a lavishly illustrated hardback, is entitled ‘Got Cork: The Kieran McCarthy Lord Mayoralty’, and the phrase ‘got Cork’ is a quote from architect William Burgess. In 1863, when he was appointed architect to the planned St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Burgess noted in his diary “Got Cork”, a phrase quoted by Mr McCarthy the night he was elected lord mayor.

Given Mr McCarthy’s interests, the book launch was, unsurprisingly, a musical affair, and the Kalyna Choir and the Carrigtwohill Gospel Choir supplied the songs.

The book was launched by the current Lord Mayor, Fergal Dennehy, who said that it was Mr McCarthy’s name he probably quoted the most, because of his work as a historian, and he noted wryly that Mr McCarthy’s singing had raised the bar for his successors, Dan Boyle and Mr Dennehy.

“I think the next lord mayor is going to have to do magic tricks,” 

he said, to laughter.

Mr McCarthy did the next best thing, raising City Hall’s roof with what has become his theme song – “It also became about standing up for something,” he said – ‘Oh What A Beautiful Morning’.

‘Got Cork’ opens with a reproduction of Amy Power’s report in The Echo of Mr McCarthy’s election as lord mayor, and it features a joyous photo by Chani Anderson. A smiling Deirdre Forde takes from around her neck the chain of office, about to hand it to a beaming Mr McCarthy.

The memoir closes with another photograph, taken by David Creedon, in 2024. The new lord mayor, a clearly humbled Dan Boyle, wears the chain, and Mr McCarthy, bright-eyed, puts his hand on his successor’s shoulder.

The lord mayor’s chain dates back to 1787, the chain worn by Mac Curtain and MacSwiney, but there is another chain too, one that dates back to 1199, and John DeSpencer, Cork's first provost.

Kieran McCarthy’s book chronicles one link in that chain.