Sir, – The economy is improving, according to received wisdom. This may well be evident in Dublin 2 and 4 where, I suspect, politicians and commentators spend most of their blinkered lives.
In the country’s second city, Cork, the main shopping arteries flounder under the weight of closures, derelict sites, charity shops and discount shops.
North Main Street, part of the city’s medieval main artery, boasts nine empty shops, eight charity shops, several discount stores, exchange marts and internet cafes.
The adjoining Castle Street has one large, long-standing derelict site and four empty shops. The short section from North Main Street to Washington Street has nine empty premises, including three derelict sites. Cork’s main shopping street, Patrick Street, has 16 empty shops. The pedestrianised Oliver Plunkett Street has seven closed shops, and Grand Parade has four closed commercial premises and a long-closed multiplex cinema.
Parnell Place, near the impressive City Hall complex, just across the river, where our elected councillors meet, has several permanently derelict buildings and empty premises.
Many visitors, who venture outside the English Market, comment on the shabby, run-down, dirty and impoverished state of the city.
What are our politicians, local and national, doing to allow this city to go to rack and ruin?
Cork could, and should, be a showcase Irish city and a proud and thriving gateway to the surrounding delights of all Munster.
Between the gates of the city, it is a sorry sight. – Yours, etc, MARTIN KRASA Sunday’s Well, Cork.