“Your politics never come in to it when you’re lord mayor of Cork, never, and that goes back to Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney,” John Dennehy tells The Echo. “As far as I was concerned, I was lord mayor for all the people of the city, not just the Fianna Fáil people.” John served as lord mayor from 1983 to 1984, through hard times. He was instrumental in the preparations for the 1985 Cork 800, which celebrated the anniversary of the granting, in 1185, of Cork’s first charter. So dire was the economic outlook in 1985 that the joke went that Cork 800 was the number of jobs left in the city. In June this year, John’s son, Fergal, was elected lord mayor, 42 years after his dad first wore the chain. John and I are sitting in the meeting room across from the Lord Mayor’s chambers. It looks out on Anglesea Street, and on the wall are black-and-white photographs of the lords mayor going back to Daniel Hegarty in 1900. John, a gifted storyteller, now a young 85, is showing us several scrapbooks that document his time as lord mayor. His wife, Phil, who passed away almost two years ago, features in most of the press clippings and photographs. “We gave it night and day, Phil and myself, and every minute of it was an honour,” John says as he turns the pages. A Cork Examiner clipping from August, 1983, reports that he was the first Fianna Fáil lord mayor to attend the annual Michael Collins commemoration at Béal na Bláth. A photo shows him with San Francisco mayor — and future US senator — Dianne Feinstein at the 1984 ceremony to mark the first time the cities were twinned. He presented Ms Feinstein — who was often tipped for the US presidency — with replicas of pages from the Book of Kells, and they became friends. He turns the page to a photo taken at the airport: A man with bouffant hair — entertainer Danny La Rue, instantly recognisable to people of a certain age — is beaming at John, and clasping the lord mayor’s hand in both of his. John says: “First cousin.” La Rue was born Daniel Patrick Carroll in 10 Horgan’s Buildings, in 1927, and by the 1960s he was one of Britain’s best-paid entertainers. Often described as the grand dame of drag — he preferred “comic in a frock” — La Rue was for decades a household name. John notes with a certain irony that his uncle, Tom Carroll, was interned for IRA membership, while La Rue, Tom’s son, was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 2002. John, first elected to Cork Corporation in 1974, was re-elected at each subsequent election until 2003, when the dual-mandate prohibition was introduced. He stood unsuccessfully in the 1977 general election, and narrowly lost in the 1979 Cork City by-election. Elected to Dáil Éireann in 1987, he was re-elected in 1989, but lost to party colleague Batt O’Keeffe in 1992. He regained the seat in the 1997 general election, held it by a wafer-thin six votes after a challenge by Kathy Sinnott in the 2002 election, and lost it in the 2007 election. Much of his time as lord mayor was spent on preparations for the year-long Cork 800 celebrations of 1985. “I said to them, ‘I’m going to help ye bake this cake and I don’t want one crumb of it for myself, but let it be a success and the whole city will benefit from it’.” Another achievement of which John is proud was the establishment of a scheme offering work supports and business advice at a time of great economic uncertainty in the city. He believes he was the first full-time lord mayor — many of his predecessors double-jobbed as TDs — and although he was offered a year’s leave of absence from his position at Irish Steel, he managed to work around the day job. So successful was his year, that, at its end, his Fine Gael ward colleague paid him a huge compliment. “Dan Morrissey stood up at our last monthly meeting to propose that I be elected lord mayor for a second year,” John says. “Now, if they gave me a million, I couldn’t have done it.” Exhausted from the year as first citizen, a holiday was needed. “A friend of mine had a bungalow in Red Strand. I didn’t even go on the sand. I lay down on the grass for two weeks and then I went back to work in Irish Steel.” In November, 2023, when Phil Dennehy passed away, Fianna Fáil leader and then tánaiste Micheál Martin said that she and her husband had personified the community ethos of Cork, and of Ballyphehane and Togher in particular. “Both Phil and John put in an enormous amount of their work and lives in to the local community spirit, through their work in the local community association, for many, many decades, long before John got involved in politics,” Mr Martin said. While lady mayoress, she had seven children from the ages of two to 20, and she represented her city while running a busy household. Fergal recalls her open-house policy of welcoming constituents to their Westside home. “Mom once said to me, ‘You dad is like a judge. It’s his job to listen to everybody that comes to him and treat everyone equally. No matter where they come from and no matter what their issue is, he must represent everybody to the best of his ability’.” Fergal agrees with his father that the office of lord mayor has to be above politics. “I honestly haven’t even said the name of my political party since I was elected lord mayor. “We’ve had one council meeting since then, and I hope I did a good job chairing it. But, look, for me, it was never about politics; it was always about community,” he says. Some of his earliest memories are of distributing the Togher newsletter outside of the church. “We grew up with mom, rest her soul, and dad involved in everything to do with community. We held the key for the community centre for a long time, and people would come for the boxing club or for other community activities. “It was about that: That level of service. Obviously, I had great role models in terms of community development, and just to see the little things that you do in your community that can make a very significant difference to individuals and to the community as a whole.” It was that same love of community that initially drew his father to politics, Fergal says, “providing a soccer pitch in the local community where they wanted to put factories”. It wasn’t until his 30s that Fergal decided to follow his father in to the trade. “And even at that point, I saw my involvement in politics as a conduit for my community, and that I could get a little bit more done if I took a seat. So the opportunity came in 2003 and I took it.” Soon, lord mayor Fergal will begin the traditional visits to the 130 schools across the city. “I received a message from somebody recently, who told me he remembered my father calling to his school 42 years ago, and his message about supporting Irish jobs,” he says. “This year, I’ll be talking to schoolkids about a theme of minding each other, and minding their mental health, and random acts of kindness, and I would hope that message is remembered the same as my dad’s message is remembered, and even if it’s only one child out of the 50,000 we’ll be meeting, then, to me, it will have all been worthwhile.” After speaking with Fergal in his private office, we head out and meet John, who is waiting patiently inside the door of the Lord Mayor’s chamber. “Well, how did you get on with the fella in the chain?” he asks mischievously. When told we got on grand, he smiles and says: “Ah, he’s not the worst”. How does he feel to see his son wearing the 238-year-old chain which was worn by Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney? “Pride is the first thing that comes to mind, obviously,” John says. “The second is Phil. She would have been so proud of him, and the third thing would be confidence in him, based on his community work. He was doing that long before he thought of doing anything political. “And Fergal can do something that I couldn’t do, and that’s sing in public, so that gives him a great edge in politics!” ‘Great public service’ from families John and Fergal Dennehy are far from the first parent-and-child lords mayor of Cork — that honour goes to Seán French senior and junior. Seán French Sr was the longest serving lord mayor of Cork since the foundation of the State — and since 1900, when Queen Victoria added the word ‘lord’ to the mayoralty. A veteran of the War of Independence and the Civil War, he served as lord mayor from 1924 to 1929, first with Sinn Féin and then, after the party split in 1926 on abstentionism, with Fianna Fáil, and again from 1932 until his death in office in 1937. He also served as a Fianna Fáil TD for the Cork Borough constituency from 1927 to 1932. His son, also Seán French, was Cork’s first citizen from 1976 to 1977, and he was first elected to Dáil Éireann for the Cork Borough constituency in 1967 and was re-elected at the subsequent five general elections, variously for Cork City North-West, Cork City, and Cork North Central, finally losing his seat in the November, 1982, election. Perhaps unique in City Hall is the familial legacy of Anthony Barry, who served as lord mayor from 1961 to 1962 and was, years later, followed in the office by both his son and his granddaughter. He was the son of James J Barry, wine and tea merchant, whose Bridge Street grocery shop would move to Princes Street and eventually evolve into Barry’s Tea. Anthony Barry served as a TD in the old Cork Borough constituency from 1954 to 1957, sat on the Seanad for a term, and returned to the Dáil for another term from 1961 to 1965. When Cork Borough was split in 1969, Anthony’s son Peter won a seat in the new Cork City South-East constituency, and he would win eight subsequent elections, with the constituency changing to Cork City in 1977 and Cork South Central in 1981. He held ministries in transport, environment, and education, and in foreign affairs from 1982 to 1987, where he was centrally involved in the drafting of the 1985 Ango-Irish Agreement. He served as lord mayor from 1970 to 1971. Coincidentally, his sister, Terry Kelly, served as mayor of Limerick from 1983 to 1984. Peter Barry retired as a TD in 1997, and was succeeded by his daughter, Deirdre Clune, who subsequently lost her seat in the general election of 2002. A member of Cork City Council from 1999 to 2007, she served as lord mayor from 2005 to 2006. She would regain her Dáil seat in the 2007 election, but in 2011 lost out to her party colleague Jerry Buttimer, going on to serve in the Seanad and later in the European Parliament. Fine Gael’s John Bermingham was lord mayor from 1968 to 1969, and his son Brian, who passed away last year, held the office from 2008 to 2009. Former Fianna Fáil minister of state Dan Wallace — who passed away earlier this year — served for almost 25 years as a TD for Cork North Central, and was lord mayor from 1985 to 1986. Mr Wallace’s son Damien served as the city’s first citizen from 1999 to 2000. The office of lord mayor has, of course, seen other family connections between those who have worn the chain in the years since 1900. Fine Gael’s John Horgan was lord mayor from 1941 to 1942, and his grandson, Seán O’Leary, would hold the office from 1972 to 1973. Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who was first elected to City Hall 40 years ago this year, was lord mayor from 1992 to 1993. Speaking recently to The Echo, Mr Martin said it was for his wife Mary and him “the best year of our life”. His brother Seán subsequently held the office from 2004 to 2005. There are other family connections in City Hall, too. For instance, former Fine Gael minister of state Bernard Allen, who passed away last year, was a TD in Cork North Central and served as lord mayor from 1988 to 1989. During his time on the council he followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, Alderman James Allen, and his uncle, Alderman Sammy Allen. Former long-time Fianna Fáil councillor Tim Brosnan was the son of Thomas Brosnan, who was lord mayor from 1987 to 1988. Former Fianna Fáil TD and councillor Noel O’Flynn, currently an Independent Ireland councillor in the north-east ward, has never worn the chain, but he is the father of two former councillors, Gary, and Ken, Cork North Central TD and chairman of Independent Ireland. Former lord mayor Kieran McCarthy, who is a keen historian, says that City Hall has a rich history of families giving public service to Cork. “If you look at the example of John and Fergal Dennehy, John was first elected a councillor in 1974, that’s more than 50 years’ service from one family, it’s an incredible contribution, it really is,” the Independent councillor said. “And there are other families as well who have given great public service to the city, as lord mayor, and as councillors. “I don’t buy the claims of nepotism at all, you still have to do the walk, you still have to knock on doors. “You still have to ask people for their votes and it’s one of the longest job interviews you’ll ever do, it goes on for weeks and there’s no guarantee at the end of it. “You’re still depending on someone going into the polling booth and making that decision to vote for you. “For people like John and Fergal to have that support for over 50 years, that’s an incredible accolade,” Mr McCarthy said.