'A lot of positives' ahead for retail in Cork city, says new CBA president

Dave O'Brien from Xeinadin was last month elected the new president of the Cork Business Association. Picture: Darragh Kane
Speaking at the AGM following his election, Mr O’Brien said he aimed to prioritise a continued focus on two key areas: Cork city as the safest and cleanest city, and the long-term vision of Cork city to 2030.
Over the past year, the CBA set up an active safe and clean committee, advocating for and securing increased Garda presence and a new community safety van.
The organisation also launched successful initiatives such as ‘Leave a Light On’ and ‘Coffee House Lates’, aimed at creating a safer, more vibrant nighttime economy.
A major achievement for the CBA in 2024 was securing funding for community safety wardens, with implementing this initiative set to be Mr O’Brien’s top priority for 2025, through working closely with key stakeholders such as the Department of Justice, Cork City Council, An Garda Síochána, Tusla, and the HSE.
He also plans to work closely with the CBA’s Cork city 2030 committee this year to develop a strategy and initiatives for the future of Cork, including housing, transport, and infrastructure.
“Housing and safety have a massive impact on business,” said Mr O’Brien.
“If the city isn’t safe, people don’t come into the city. If it’s not getting a good reputation worldwide, tourists don’t come, and businesses thinking of setting up here may consider an alternative location.
“Companies won’t come to Cork if there’s no housing for their employees either, so it’s vital for attracting businesses that we have housing available — we are definitely planning to push this,” he added.
Mr O’Brien will be looking at what the CBA can do to improve the housing situation in Cork, including putting pressure on the Government to influence policies.
“Planning rules on multiple apartments above shops need to be addressed too,” he said.
“Other European cities manage this, so why can’t we?”
Mr O’Brien explained that getting a framework in place for their Cork City 2030 pillar will be another big task for this year.
“That’s things like transport — the good news is that Bus Éireann now has a full roster of drivers, which is excellent.
“What we need is for people to be able to come in and out of the city without too much hassle, and preferably leave the car away at home.
“We’re still a bit away from that, but we’re hopefully getting there.
Alongside housing and transport, the CBA will also be pushing for infrastructure, with Mr O’Brien identifying apartments as something they would like to see more of.
“We’d like to see more apartment buildings getting built, the gap between getting planning permission and building is too long at the moment, often due to costs.”
They would also like to see more diversity of offerings in places like Patrick St, if the alternative is empty units — again, this requires changes to planning regulations so that more change of use permissions can be granted.
Patrick St in particular is currently used almost exclusively for retail, with just one pub on the street, Le Chateau, which has been there since 1793.
“Maybe more hospitality could get into the city centre, it’s all about making it an attractive place for people to come, a more modern city akin to other European cities,” Mr O’Brien said, adding that currently, almost all businesses on Patrick St are closed in the evenings.
Retailers have warned that new licensing rules around the sale of e-cigarette products might cause several vape shops to go out of business, and Mr O’Brien said that if there are closures in Cork, the focus has to be refilling vacant units.
“If they do close down, we need to see can they be turned into another retail premises, or hospitality or even residential.
“More people living in the city is more people visiting the shops and hospitality places, it makes it viable for more businesses to open — the key is just getting units filled, one way or another.”