![\"Mary](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/5004608_12_articleinlinemobile_25-10_3_.jpeg\" "\\"Mary")
Mary Foley gets a copy of ‘Got Cork’ signed by author and former lord mayor of Cork, councillor Kieran McCarthy at the book\u2019s launch at City Hall. Picture: Chani Anderson<\/p>\nTo say something is a dream come true is a clich\u00e9, but for Kieran McCarthy, becoming lord mayor of Cork in 2023 was literally that.<\/p>\n
He once told this reporter that when he was a small boy he would look up to the window of the lord mayor\u2019s office, imagining that one day he would wear the chain of office of his city.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was a kid, I\u2019d be below looking up,\u201d he said, \u201cand I\u2019d say, \u2018Some day\u2026\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That day came in 2023, when the outgoing lord mayor, then Fine Gael councillor Deirdre Forde, passed the chain to the Ballinlough native and Independent councillor.<\/p>\n
Now Mr McCarthy has produced a record of his lord mayoralty, written alongside Marcelline Bonneau, his former lady mayoress \u2013 and always, he told the book\u2019s launch in City Hall, the lady mayoress of his heart.<\/p>\n
The book, a lavishly illustrated hardback, is entitled \u2018Got Cork: The Kieran McCarthy Lord Mayoralty\u2019, and the phrase \u2018got Cork\u2019 is a quote from architect William Burgess. In 1863, when he was appointed architect to the planned St Fin Barre\u2019s Cathedral, Burgess noted in his diary \u201cGot Cork\u201d, a phrase quoted by Mr McCarthy the night he was elected lord mayor.<\/p>\n
Given Mr McCarthy\u2019s interests, the book launch was, unsurprisingly, a musical affair, and the Kalyna Choir and the Carrigtwohill Gospel Choir supplied the songs.<\/p>\n
Mary Foley gets a copy of ‘Got Cork’ signed by author and former lord mayor of Cork, councillor Kieran McCarthy at the book\u2019s launch at City Hall. Picture: Chani Anderson<\/p>\n
The book was launched by the current Lord Mayor, Fergal Dennehy, who said that it was Mr McCarthy\u2019s name he probably quoted the most, because of his work as a historian, and he noted wryly that Mr McCarthy\u2019s singing had raised the bar for his successors, Dan Boyle and Mr Dennehy.<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI think the next lord mayor is going to have to do magic tricks,\u201d\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
he said, to laughter.<\/p>\n
Mr McCarthy did the next best thing, raising City Hall\u2019s roof with what has become his theme song \u2013 \u201cIt also became about standing up for something,\u201d he said \u2013 \u2018Oh What A Beautiful Morning\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u2018Got Cork\u2019 opens with a reproduction of Amy Power\u2019s report in The Echo of Mr McCarthy\u2019s election as lord mayor, and it features a joyous photo by Chani Anderson. A smiling Deirdre Forde takes from around her neck the chain of office, about to hand it to a beaming Mr McCarthy.<\/p>\n
The memoir closes with another photograph, taken by David Creedon, in 2024. The new lord mayor, a clearly humbled Dan Boyle, wears the chain, and Mr McCarthy, bright-eyed, puts his hand on his successor\u2019s shoulder.<\/p>\n
The lord mayor\u2019s chain dates back to 1787, the chain worn by Mac Curtain and MacSwiney, but there is another chain too, one that dates back to 1199, and John DeSpencer, Cork’s first provost.<\/p>\n
Kieran McCarthy\u2019s book chronicles one link in that chain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To say something is a dream come true is a clich\u00e9, but for Kieran McCarthy, becoming lord mayor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[781,9,10,42,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-387893","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-cork-news","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-cork-city-council","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-featured-news","14":"tag-featurednews","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116238928378129852","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}