John Dolan: ‘The world’s most Irish city’... what a tourist slogan for Cork

It was the week that saw 60,000 people throng the streets of Cork city for the annual St Patrick’s Day parade, to cheer on a record 3,600 partying people as they passed them by.

Throw in the participants and crowds at all the other green-tinged parades and events across the county on Tuesday, and you get a sense of the patriotism that oozes from the pores of the average Rebel.

It was a day when the troubles of the world could be forgotten for a while, and Cork and its people could celebrate their home place in all its glory.

It was therefore fitting that this week, Cork was handed the title of the world’s most Irish city.

(Well, the actual honour was ‘Ireland’s most Irish city’, but it can hardly be argued that Boston, Sydney, and New York can match us for Irishness - despite all their green rivers and bridges).

Not a bad accolade for Cork in St Patrick’s week, huh?

The study that bestowed this honour on us showed that Cork had nudged out those pretenders out west in Galway into second, and also finished ahead of Waterford, Limerick, and Kilkenny. Poor aul Dublin was back in the ha’penny place - languishing in eighth.

The research was carried out by the company HelloFresh Ireland, and the criteria they used analysed factors such as St Patrick’s Day parade attendances, GAA club numbers, Irish language speakers, pub and restaurant density, and online searches for classic Irish dishes.

They could have saved themselves a lot of time by merely asking someone in Cork what they thought was the most Irish city, and getting the same answer.

But this study at least ensures our rival cities have no choice but to bow down to Cork’s supremacy on this important issue.

The city scored particularly well by having the highest concentration of GAA clubs at 166, and the second highest percentage of Irish speakers at 44.8%, after Galway.

Explaining the reasoning behind the research, Brand & Marketing Communication Manager at HelloFresh Ireland, Annita Forte, said: ‘In 2024, we analysed the most Irish cities outside of Ireland, with Boston coming out on top, and thought it was only fair to turn our attention closer to home and see how our own cities stack up against each other to finally crown Ireland’s most Irish city.”

The results present a unique opportunity to Cork, not just to gloat to our rivals (although that is always fun), but to capitalise on the title.

After all, which tourist anywhere on the planet, wanting to experience the wonder and culture of Ireland on a holiday, would not want to visit the place dubbed ‘Ireland’s most Irish city’?

It would be a no-brainer.

So, let’s have some banners at the airport and slogans on billboards across the city, proclaiming Corkonians as more Irish than the Irish themselves.

Let’s ensure that visitors know that they are in the presence of Celtic greatness. That, yes, the Irish are a great race, but that Cork is the best of the best, the crème de la crème.

We are the very best of us.

We have more than enough hotels here, so let’s go about filling them, along with the shops, pubs, and restaurants of Cork.

How about it, Fáilte Ireland?

Taoiseach at the White House 

If you go to a party or a wedding tonight and the host turns out to be an obnoxious bollix of the highest order, will you give him some home truths, or storm out in disgust? Or will you grin and bear it?

I expect 99% of you will answer the latter.

So spare a thought for our Taoiseach Micheál Martin this week, who had to spend a few hours of our precious national day in the company of that crushing bore Donald Trump.

The Cork man played a blinder as the unfailingly polite guest, and this son of a boxer even managed to parry a few of the President’s blows and deliver some telling jabs of his own on emigration and the reputation of the UK Prime Minister.

There really was nothing else he could do, as he ensured his and Ireland’s reputation emerged intact for another year.

This was leadership. This was diplomacy. Most importantly of all, it was simply good sense and bloody good manners.

His opponents are duty bound to attack the Taoiseach on any and every issue, but those who suggest they would have snubbed the invitation to the White House on principle, or, even worse, would have attended and given President Trump a piece of their mind on a whole variety of issues, are simply away with the Patrick’s Day fairies.

Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher was spot on when he accused some Opposition TDs of “self-righteous posturing” on the issue.

As well as a pat on the back, you’d have to feel a sliver of sympathy for Micheál Martin, a man who has studied politics deeply, and is only too aware of the historical significance of a visit to the White House by a Taoiseach.

The first chance he had to do so, in 2021, he was forced to meet Joe Biden virtually from Ireland because of the pandemic. A year later, Martin tested positive for covid just before he was due to meet President Biden in the U.S, so the face-to-face meeting was again postponed..

He finally got to cross the White House visit off his bucket list last year, only to walk onto a potential trip wire just days after Trump had given a dressing down to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Martin handled that encounter impeccably, and this year he repeated the favour on behalf of the Irish state.

I very much doubt that Micheál Martin is a big fan of Trump as a man and as a reckless world leader. On Tuesday, he took one for the team - Team Ireland.

Not too long ago, I was writing off the Cork man’s tenure as Taoiseach on this page, after the presidential election debacle, and suggesting he was living on borrowed time.

However, I wouldn’t be surprised now if he pitches up at the White House for a final meeting with Trump in March, 2027, before he bows out later in the year.