Funding secured for repair works to iconic Cork city landmark
In February, Cork City Council was told the cost of repairs would likely start at €400,000, with final costs to be determined before any works would commence. Picture: Larry Cummins.
Government funding of €250,000 has been secured toward repairs of Cork’s historic Shandon clock, a northside TD has announced.
The funding is part of an allocation of more than €3.5m awarded for the repair of 28 heritage buildings across the country under the Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage’s Historic Structures Fund (HSF).
Locals say the four-faced liar, as the iconic clock has been known for generations in Cork, has been telling the wrong time since last May, and its eastern face has been stopped on six o’clock for as long.
For many years the clock mechanism, which was installed in 1847 by the then Cork Corporation and is the responsibility of Cork City Council, was maintained by Philip Stokes of Stokes Clocks and Watches on MacCurtain St.
However, earlier this year, Mr Stokes said he had “stepped away from” the maintenance of the clock mechanism, due to safety concerns relating to structural issues in the clock tower.
In February, Cork City Council was told the cost of repairs would likely start at €400,000, with final costs to be determined before any works would commence.
Now, Pádraig O’Sullivan, Fianna Fáil TD for Cork North Central, has said that funding worth €250,000 in repairs has been delivered by his party colleague, Cork South West TD Christopher O’Sullivan, who is minister of state at the Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage.
He added that in addition to the funding for Shandon clock, €150,000 had been allocated toward repair work on the alms-houses in Glanmire, with a further €114,400 secured for repairs at the St Laurence Cheshire Home in Lotamore, and €72,403 for Kinsale Museum.
“It’s great to see this investment in preserving important historic buildings in Cork, many of which are in need of repairs,” Pádraig O’Sullivan said.
During the February meeting of Cork City Council, the council’s director of services for planning and integrated development, Niall Ó Donnabháin, told Sinn Féin councillor Kenneth Collins that the repair works to Shandon would necessitate contributions from “several specialists in conservation, horology and structural repair”.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he welcomed the allocation of funding for the repair to the structure of Shandon tower and clock.
he said.
“One of the most recognisable symbols of the city which is well lauded in song and story and deserves to be restored to its former glory.”
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