This is a first for the State. Ms Liz McEvoy has been appointed City Centre Co-Ordinator for Cork - and the city, it could be argued, needs some co-ordination.
The Cork Business Association, the Chamber of Commerce and City Hall have come together in an imaginative scheme. Its aim is to unite the strands that make a city like Cork work and to see how it can be improved.
The three bodies have incorporated a new company called Cork Challenge, headed by Ms McEvoy, who will spend the next three years on the project, after which a review will be held.
Her mission, she says, is to look at access to and from the city; to determine what improvements can be made in public transport - whether the successful park-and-ride scheme introduced last Christmas, should be followed up - and investigate whether any new schemes would make a difference to people's lives. Thousands of cars were kept out of the city centre over the Christmas period because the local authority provided secure suburban parking spaces, backed by cheap public transport, to enable shoppers to come and go with ease. It worked. The streets were clearer than normal and traffic glut, a problem leading to increasing frustration among motorists, was reduced. Ms McEvoy's researches will determine whether further improvements can be made.
The other part of her mission is to liaise with the business community in Cork to look at taxi services and public transport. Also, to identify steps that could be taken to make Cork a better place to live in. She wants to examine how goods are delivered to the city, whether this system could be improved, and to determine if more access could be provided for cyclists and walkers. She also wants to look at the dependence on cars. Is there an alternative to the reliance on cars? She wants to examine this topic and find an answer.
There's the question of security in the city. What can be done to make it safer, not only for Corkonians but also for tourists? In the three-year project, this issue will be examined as well. The city's environment is another important issue.
The late Bishop Lucey complained at a freedom of the city ceremony in City Hall many years ago that Cork's inner city was bereft of trees. He offered to put up his own money for a tree-planting programme, though his offer was never taken up.
The bishop was right. Cork could do with more trees. Its streets cry out for them and its natural undulations would be much enhanced.
Ms McEvoy has a staff of two and will report to a nine-member board, including elected representatives and members of the three organisations that appointed her. Within a month, she will have produced an overview of Cork city. After that, she will make reports and recommendations on specific issues. Similar projects have worked well in Northern Ireland, Britain and the United States. Could this be the beginning of something good for Cork? We shall see.