Criticism of Cobh isn’t nice to hear, but we can’t ignore it either.

There was a very critical review of Cobh penned by a travel writer last November. Paula McInerney was her name and she published her piece on contentedtraveller.com.

She was very positive about some of what she experienced on her visit, but she was less so about other aspects of her trip. There was a liner in town while she was here, and she thought the place was buzzing and colourful and had a good feel to it.

It was after the cruise ship left, when she and her companion went out to explore Cobh on their own, that things began to unravel, and she had more to say.

“In fairness, we had come from the cute, picture postcard town of Kilkenny, which was immaculate and where the pride in the city was obvious. Unfortunately, Cobh did not follow in this model.”

“The back streets were littered with glass, and graffiti, and rubbish. This was not from the cruise ship passengers, who mostly stayed down on the waterfront, or went to kiss the Blarney Stone. No, this was ‘normal’ Cobh, and it shouldn’t be that way. Cobh could be just as attractive as Kilkenny, Killarney, Dingle and other places in Ireland…if they choose this route.”

“It appeared to me that Cobh have their cruise ship passengers who see the attractive water frontage, and not the behind the scenes – the real Cobh. There were many empty shops away from the dock and there appeared to be a lot of disinterest in the town’s appearance. I felt that Cobh, with its inherently lovely qualities, needed a good kick in the butt. Remember, cruise ships are not bound to stop there. There are other places who would love this golden opportunity.”

“The Irish Naval Service headquarters is on Haulbowline Island facing Cobh, and when they are not practicing their rifle shooting which they do a lot, then maybe they could help clean up the town.”

Strong words and I get the impression that she was hoping for a more positive experience but didn’t get it. Whether we agree with her or not is irrelevant. This is the opinion of a visitor to the town and her description of what she saw.

“Cobh is the gateway to the city of Cork, Ireland. We decided to stay in Cobh, with the hope of being able to share some great content, and discover a place where there might be something very special; and Cobh could have been, but it wasn’t.”
That’s not nice to hear, but it can’t be ignored, so the question should now be, what are we going to do about it?

I have made the point in previous articles about the potential of Cork Harbour. I have also previously compared it to Sydney and as the writer rightly points out, there is no comparison apart from size. Huge investment in Sydney Harbour has turned it in to one of the leading tourist attractions in the world. It’s an amazing place.

We don’t have the weather or the financial investment of the Australians, but we have everything else except for maybe a bit of vision. But while the development of the Cork Harbour area on a grand scale is something that is out of the hands of the ordinary man on the street, the general cleanliness, maintenance and upkeep of any town is down to the local authority and the residents.

There is a national malaise when it comes to keeping our towns and cities clean.
What we lack, and this doesn’t just apply to Cobh, is community responsibility. The responsibility to ensure that we all do our bit to make our town or village a place that locals and visitors will appreciate and be proud of.

We don’t have that. It’s left to the few who rise to the challenge and get on with it while the rest just sit back and have a moan.

The writer talks about getting the navy out of their base to clean up the town. That’s a bit like asking my neighbour to come in and clean my house because I couldn’t be arsed. Passing the responsibility for cleaning our mess to somebody else is completely missing the point. The dirt in the town, any town, is put there by the community in the first place.

Tidy Towns volunteers do a fantastic job. They spend their time and energy collecting litter that has been carelessly discarded or chucked out of a car window by people who just couldn’t care less and who expect others to clean up after them.

I was walking through an estate in Cork one Saturday morning many years ago. The residents were having a bit of a clean-up and they were out in force, armed with shovels, brushes, wheelbarrows and lawnmowers. It was a nice morning and they were in good humour. As with all Corkonians, they were in form for a bit of slagging.

There was one guy standing in his doorway, leaning against the door frame. He was wearing a string vest like Alonso in ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ and smoking a cigarette. One of the lads called him by name and told him to grab a shovel and give a hand. He shouted back that they were fools to be doing the work for the Council.

Unfortunately, that’s still a common attitude. These guys are in Cobh too and they expect someone else to sort out the dirt.

The first liners of the new season have just visited Cobh and there will be more calling this year than in previous years and they will be bringing thousands of visitors to the town over the summer.

As far as some people are concerned, it doesn’t bother them that their experience will be tarnished with litter and dog crap.