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THE CHAIR OF the beleagured Limerick City of Culture project Pat Cox has said he is convinced that the event can still be a success, and that the problems facing the project have happened in other cities already.
In a statement this evening, Cox said he and the Board of the project are determined to ensure that Ireland’s first ever national city of culture passes off without any more problems.
He made the comments amid a heated public meeting taking place in Limerick tonight about what has happened in the past three days amid increasing controversy about the management of the project following the resignation of artistic director Karl Wallace.
The Board of Limerick City of Culture met this afternoon and accepted the official resignation of Karl Wallace. Advertisements will be placed in the coming week for a new artistic director who will be appointed ‘as a matter of urgency’, the Board said.
The Board said it has designated a number of people from Limerick’s artistic and cultural community as board members, and stressed that all of the 109 projects which are taking place throughout the year will be fulfilled.
Pat Cox sought to head off complaints about the handling of the high profile resignation of Karl Wallace.
“What, unhappily, has happened in Limerick over recent days is not without precedent in other city of culture projects but it has only served to reinforce the resolve and determination of the board to ensure that this first national designation will succeed for Limerick and for Ireland,” he said.
It was announced in 2012 that Limerick would be Ireland’s first ever National City of Culture from 1 January 2014 with a year-long programme of events across the county, but the project has been dogged with controversy.
Karl Wallace, who was appointed to the position in March, cited a breakdown in communication between his team and the chief executive of the project, Patricia Ryan, who worked as an assistant to Pat Cox while he was an MEP. Two other programmers are also stepping down.
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Worked with Karl Wallace, was my pleasure to work with him, always very professional and called a spade a spade, obviously pushed to the brink having to resign, will be hard to replace him
And I wonder who appointed Cox in the first place? He isn’t the first person who would come to mind when you think about culture
Neither’sLimerick when you think about it!
Disgraceful . Cox and his crony sidekick should be resigning not Wallace.
@ Rodrigo; That’s the point. It is no harm to have something like the City of Culture to highlight that there’s a bit more to Limerick than the picture the Sunday World would have you believe.
It was a joke Fintan. Relax will you?
Rodrigo, you forget that Michael Noonan is a Limerick City TD and Jimmy Deenihan ( Minister of Culture) is TD for Kerry North West and Limerick. What other city has better qualifications than that?
Can you say things like that these days , Mary ?
Who do you think Andrew he joined FG before the last election, first he was a member of FF, then the PDs and now FG. The lady that got the city of culture job M/s Ryan was his secretary when he was the European Commissioner. Mr Cox is a me Fein man.
Cat Pox!
Resign cox. If this is what he’s doing down there. Imagine the strokes he pulled as e.u. head
Cox a goo FG man is going nowhere!!
Cox was PD till it suited and the Aras awaited.
This whole thing is an embarassment for limerick city. This should be a fantastic start to a fantastic year and instead we have this rubbish. Timing of resignations sucked but it seems they were left with no option. No one in limk trusts pat cox now him and his cronies need to go.
Dont worry,by this time next year and whatever political cronies or other jobsworthies are stuffed into to make it a fiasco.it will be trumpted by all the ones involved as” a great success”,as they count their loot and fat pay checks.
For them and their bank accounts maybe,not for Limerick.
Rotten to The core Its a pity pat cox didnt go, corruption at Its best.
Another typical Cox-up!
Limerick is a fine county and city, full of beauty and culture, these corrupt politicians of all parties do have a talent in giving high paid jobs to their cronies…. shocking
Worst mac
Stinks of corruption and cronyism.
The people of Limerick know all about our nickname and the negative media coverage we get and the bandwagon jumpers . Like the people on here who just jump in with their trolling negative BS about Limerick without really knowing much about limerick personally or realising there are problems in every part of Ireland. We all know this in Limerick and we know that many people have worked hard to show what a great place Limerick is and can be. It’s an ongoing battle and not one to be won overnight. This is really why this whole debacle is even more damaging. Pat Cox former assistant somehow got into a plum job for this City of Culture that’s bad enough but instead of keeping her head down and taking the money she goes about alienating the artistic team . We are now a laughing stock. Thanks Pat . Great job representing Limerick.
Limerick folk are so hyper-sensitive about what Ireland thinks of their county.
Mitch that’s bull. I’ve lived equal parts of my life in Donegal and limerick. Media loves a city other than Dublin getting a shtty name.
very well said Catherine.
We the Joe public -tax payer are not getting the full story
the gang cartel at it again ..time for people power to stop the cartel
Limerick is a fine city and doesnt deserve to be treated so badly or taken advantage of by the likes of the Pathetic Pat Cox and his cronies.
Another example of how the political elite think they know better and that they can do what they want. People like Cox are disgusting and should resign from public life period.
Bravo to Mr Wallace for standing his ground and showing that he has principles.
I went to Limerick for the first time last summer and had a great time. I don’t know why it gets such bad press. It’s one of my favourite cities in Ireland. Friendly people. Look forward to my next visit.
Is the indispensable criteria for the success of this project the skill and competency of the artistic and creative team, or the ability of the chairman to calmly slither a crony into the top job, without as much as a public advertisement of the vacancy?
Well, his appointee is going to be thoroughly tested now in the white heat of public curiosity and his own reputation and that of Limerick will be under the magnifying glass. Surely Chairman Cox owed more to his tormented native city than fixing his friend up with a cosy, undemanding feel-good sinecure.
The last bit of the report says that “another two programmers are also stepping down”. This is on top of the three already.
Anyone know how many staff work under this CEO?
In my view if the boss has lost the confidence of staff it is they that needs to go.
Throughout his career Pat Cox has known that honour & integrity don’t pay the bills.
Don’t think he ever got over being kicked to touch for presidential election
I see Pat Cox still living off of the fat of the land. People like him are a drain on society.
Kettle. Pot. Black.
I was trying not to be negative at the start of a New Year but a few things recently have broken my resolve and this is one of them. The truth is Limerick deserves better. It has been the urban outcast of Ireland for too long now –a role handed to it by the neglect of its own political class. Not a few of whom O,’Dea ,Noonan etc have done well o n the backs of the Limerick people. So the same old,same old political skullduggery and cronyism going on here is yet another example of the lack of respect that both national and local politician and local bureacrats have for the city and its people. Their display of self entitlement makes me sick. The rot continues.
Well said Nelly. Thats not unique to Limerick politicians though. It’s nationwide.
Worked with Karl Wallace, was a joy to work with, what a professional, must have been pushed to brink in order to submit resignation, will be hard to replace him
You can say that again.
Caught the end of 2 rapping from Moyross I think who seemed to say that the Ms Ryan rejected them as they described Limerick as rough as part of their song and it wasn’t the image they wanted to send out.
Did she interfere with artistic content? If so why?
This is a 6 million budget at play here. Serious questions to be answered and quickly.
Rappers I meant of course who were delighted with national coverage! !
Ms Ryan 120k contract for 18 months using taxpayers money and no transparency other than Limerick manager. Come one Hogan.
The arts and culture community in Limerick should boycott the year of culture until Cox and his crony take a hike. Otherwise he wins.
Saw Cox on the news at 9, says he’s going to reflect on the points raised at the meeting in the Clarion today!!!
All I can say is that he has some neck!! His appointed CEO/Chairperson admitted she has no experience in these type of events!!!! Hello??!!??
It appears that Mr Wallace is the top expert in his field?? So you’d think she’d at least ask for his opinion but no, she had to fu€k it up and push him over the edge!!
I live in limerick but am not from here and any of my friends, work colleagues, neighbours etc I speak to about it are embarrassed with all the negative press we’re getting again!!
Jobs for the boys (or girls in this case) strikes again!! So the right thing Mr Cox and step aside!!!
I wonder if there is any way that Cox could be sacked? If there is lets bring it on.
He is a disgrace. A Pompous little git full of his own importance. I know some folk from Limerick and they are nothing like him. They are good decent people who are sickened by this parasite.
One of the rare opportunities our wonderful city gets to showcase itself , this is embarrassing , its a bit late in the day for all this.
Local elections this year.
People of limerick can save the day by kicking cox and his appointee out. Another case of a politician walking over everyone for his own glory.
Now you hit the nail on the head.
The local politicians are as usual playing to the gallery.
GET ON WITH THE WORK AND STOP MOANING.
IT’S TOO LATE TO START MOVING THE CHAIRS AROUND.
Egos Egos blooming Egos. Why do they always get in the way of getting the work done.
I thought Pat Cox had gone off the political scene. I wouldn’t have anything to do with him as he is attached to FG and we all know what they done to the Irish People.
Dont worry Skoda. He will scurry back to his buddies in the EU commission and they will look after him.
What were fine gael to do ?
Continue the corrupt and bankrupt ways of fianna fail ?
Don’t make a complaint, make a (positive) suggestion.
What? Like you just did?
Get real.
? Pardon ?
What are you saying exactly ?
Who decided that Limerick would be the culture capital and why were no other counties approached…how come Michael Noonan handed over tax payers money to a event that appears to been awarded to limerick without any other county invited to partake in selection process.good to see fg keeping up the old cronyism it promised to eliminate..
Deenihan by all accounts.
Remember Minister Noonan backed m/s ryan when she got the job.
The PDs still screwing the country although wiped out in the elections!
FG, long since gone from the PDs.
Cox out.
Careful there now, John .
How do these people worm there way in…more of the same from an incumbent government
WOW JUST SEEN COX AND HIS ASSISTANT ON NEWS — ARE THEY STUPID – YOUR NOT WANTED IN LIMERICK
U be doing well to find much culture in Limerick anyway.
Hilarious. Didn’t take you long to come up with that.
Well I can’t name one good band that ever came out of Galway so called arts capita…
The saw doctors. …oh no wait you’re right
The cranberries , they werent good they were awesome.
I’m not even a fan of the Cranberries, but they’ve done a lot more than any hack band that ever came out of Galway. Arts capital my hole.
Dogs on strings does not equate to culture.
Galway? Crustie central.
That’s irrelevent ,you said name one good band that came out of Limerick and I named one and a very successful one at that. The Cranberries music is recognised worldwide.
looks likes someone spit the dummy out. #poor #precious
Did u ever post on redcafe???
yes – still do
Lol top poster
Maybe it’s all a great PR stunt. The whole country certainly knows now that Limerick is the 2014 City of Culture.
This article needs some updating. The below section suggests that Limerick is the first Irish city of culture.
“It was announced in 2012 that Limerick would be Ireland’s first ever National City of Culture from 1 January 2014 with a year-long programme of events across the county, but the project has been dogged with controversy.”
Cork was the City of Culture in 2005
Cork was the European City of Culture in 2005. I assume that the funding for that came from the EU, perhaps someone else can confirm that? This is Ireland’s first City of Culture, funded by us.
Cork was European Capital of Culture in 2005, not that many in Cork noticed at the time tbh.
I remember that. There was bunting up around the place.
The stench that comes from the parasites of this country needs to be cleansed, Instead of people having a go off each other with their witty retorts why not send emails and demand to know why this cronie was appointed without any experience, find out why Cox got the job. Why are we still keeping Cox in a job, what do we owe him?. We need to start talking about this in our homes, schools, churches and pubs. I often wondered why the mantra I heard when growing up was “Don’t talk about Religion or Politics”. We don’t talk about it but yet we all know that the Political parasites in this country have no desire to better it for all, they simply want to better it for themselves and their cronies. Limerick is a great example of this, How can all the former ministers who purport to represent Limerick explain how certain parts of it got into the state they are in? How can they honestly look people in the eye when they have failed miserably certain areas of their City. I wish all the Limerick people well in their year of Culture but they need to look at who they are relying on for representation because it seems acceptable to leave entire swathes of people behind and don’t be surprised when it comes back to haunt you.
Boardwalk Empire comes to mind.
Worked 30 years down in Limerick
Fine people. Political shit again.
If it has happened in other city of culture Events then as CEO should Cox not have been aware of possible problem in advance and managed it so these similar problems didn’t arise in Limerick. Ain’t that what a top management job is all about. If he can’t learn from past mistakes rather than use them as a defence he should not be in the job.
If the city was hit by a meteorite ,You can rest assured that fool cox will call it a success.He is one of our more successful ‘Me feiners’.As for his choice of Ryan?….what the heck does she have by way of experience for the position of CEO.Cox paying her back for all her years of ‘service’.Pat Cox is a hypocrite.
Unfortunately when you’re defending you’re losing.
What a cox up
Did cox not deflect to cork?? Thought hes based there now??
Pat Cox and Patricia Ryan don’t know their Art from their Elbow . For the sake of art , GO NOW .
At least people won’t be talking about ‘stab city’ anymore. No, thanks to the ‘City Of Culture’ fiasco now people will think corruption and cronyism!
LIMRICK:I thik pissup and brewery
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