There was a mixed reaction at the recent meeting of Fermoy Town Council to the idea of getting involved in ‘Cork Rebel Week’, a celebration of all things Cork which is being held in association with The Gathering.

The aim, an initiative of Cork County Council, is to bring international visitors and family home to Cork county during the week of October 14^th to the 20th.

Town Clerk Pauline Moriarty explained that Fermoy could make a submission to be considered for inclusion in the event. One of the suggestions is to host a 50-piece international band from Wednesday, October 16^th to the 20^th. There would be a requirement to provide accommodation and entertainment for the visitors during their stay and they would need to form a committee who’d have responsibility for agreeing a schedule, she said. The committee would drive the initiative and not the town council. The band’s entourage of family, friends etc. would stay at their own expense.

€7,500 “NOT HUGE”

Councillor Noel McCarthy said he’d seen a presentation on the initiative at a county council meeting. He pointed out that funding of €7,500 is available.

The meeting heard that the town’s twinning group had expressed an interest in getting involved. “There’s no point in drawing this on ourselves if we can’t do it properly,” said Cllr. Tadhg O’Donovan. He couldn’t see it happening that Fermoy would host 50 people on a voluntary basis. Cllr. Olive Corcoran said funding of €7,500 “isn’t huge.”

Others were more optimistic however. Cllr. Collette Dolan-Moore said it would be a great boost for the town. “It’d be a bad day if we couldn’t get together on this,” she pointed out. Mayor Michael Hanley said they’d established that there is goodwill for it in the town. While Cllr. John Murphy proposed they look at all aspects of it.

The problem of a lack of visitor accommodation in Fermoy was raised by Cllr. Seamus Coleman, who said it’d be great if it came off but “we have to be honest too, there’s not a lot of available paid accommodation in Fermoy.” He added: “I know people who were glad to be going home today (after the St. Patrick’s weekend) because there’s nothing for them to do in Fermoy.”

It was agreed that the Town Clerk and Cllr. Dolan-Moore would collaborate to ascertain interest in the idea in the town.