Mayor throws down gauntlet
by Mary Smithwick
LORD Mayor of Cork, P.J. Hourican, threw down the gauntlet to any potential challengers to his authority yesterday.
In a ceremony dating from the sixteenth century, Councillor Hourican threw a ceremonial dart into the harbour at Roches Point, marking the jurisdiction of the Cork Municipality over the harbour as well as the city.
Appropriately, the ship from which the dart was thrown was the L.E. Emer. Later last night the Emer was formally adopted by the City of Cork. In a ceremony at City Hall, Councillor Hourican formally signed the naval ship’s adoption scroll.
The L.E. Emer already had links with Cork, as it was built at the now closed Verolme Cobh Dockyard and commissioned in 1978.
Cllr Hourican hopes to use the Emer for water related functions, and says the ship and her crew will be central to many Cork ceremonial occasions from now on.
The Lord Mayor was joined on board the L.E. Emer yesterday morning by the newly appointed city manager, Joe Gavin, who was treated to a view of the city from the harbour.
With the Cork main drainage scheme well under way, Cllr Hourican believes that it is now time to develop marine facilities.
“We’re the premier deep water port in the country, and we should be using it,” he said.
The Lord Mayor recently wrote to the Taoiseach to suggest the State purchase Blackrock Castle, with a view to using it as a maritime museum.
© Irish Examiner, 2000