29th April 2014
By Bryan T. Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
A campaign to rename Cork Airport after the the famous guitarist Rory
Gallagher is continuing to gain momentum.
More than 10-thousand people have signed a petition.
Gallagher passed away in 1995 at the young age of 47. He was one described
by Jimi Hendrix as the “world’s greatest guitarist”,
and there’s already a small area called “Rory Gallagher Place”, just off
Paul Street in the City Centre.
But for the past 3 years a Gallagher fan who lives abroad has been
campaigning to honour the music legend even further,
pointing to the example of Liverpool’s airport being re-named after John
Lennon, and Belfast’s “George Best” Airport.
Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar says it is “not the practice” to in the
REPUBLIC of Ireland
to re-name airports after people and he has no plans to change that.
Meanwhile Cork CITY Council is also powerless to change the Airports name
because it’s located in the COUNTY Council area,
and neither local authority is involved in it’s management.
TheCork.ie has been speaking with Fianna Fail City Councillor Terry Shannon
who sits on the “Team” Tourism committee