Cork 2005: The opening tomorrow of a new military museum at Collins Barracks is a low-key introduction to the army's involvement in what could be a defining moment in Cork's year as European Capital of Culture.
Although as yet no contract has been signed, it is understood that negotiations are continuing to secure singer Andrea Bocelli for a gala concert which, if all goes well, will be held on the largest barrack square in Europe.
Covering four acres, the parade ground at Collins Barracks can accommodate 10,000 people; ticket sales on this scale will be needed to help meet the estimated cost of €1 million, the shortfall believed to be funded through local sponsorship.
The planned date of July 15th next is still on the agenda of the private interests which have been working since last summer to bring Bocelli to Cork, and the Defence Forces are ready to accede to a request for use of the square for this event.
In the meantime, the army's own programme has been forging ahead with the commissioning of two new paintings by Cork artists for the Officers' Mess, a band concert next Friday, the Simon Norfolk photographic residency and exhibition in collaboration with the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh and a hefty involvement in the St Patrick's Day parade, for which rumours of a detachment of Orangemen, under the "Lagan to the Lee" programme, have drawn predictable protests. All will be forgiven, however, if Bocelli is secured.
