In terms of a small inner city neighbourhood there can be few potentially prettier places than Shandon on the north side of Cork city. A patchwork of steep, small streets and lanes, with buildings dating back to the 18th century, congregate at the impressive Butter Market. At the summit lies the exquisitely delicate St Anne’s Church and its famous Shandon Belltower, built over 300 years ago in 1722. It doesn’t take much to imagine how, with a bit of love and care, this mixture of Victorian and Georgian architecture could be transformed into an urban renewal gem.

Sitting outside the Myo Café on Pope’s Quay, overlooking the Lee on a warm autumnal morning, the possibility of Cork City emulating other vibrant, liveable European cities such as Bilbao is so obvious. In terms of size and institutional capacity, Cork has everything and yet the city feels somewhat unloved, a little bit down-at-heel – but nothing that a concerted effort couldn’t transform.

[ Cork city retail investment at €22m offers buyer 9.1% net initial yieldOpens in new window ]

Last week, this column focused on the potential of Limerick and Galway as counterweights to Dublin, but the obvious candidate is a Cork, Limerick and Galway axis anchored by an interlinked and overlapping transport, communication, residential, cultural and commercial regional plan. On an all-island basis, the prospect of unity, no matter when it becomes a reality, will be an eastern affair, reinforcing the dominance of the two major conurbations, Dublin and Belfast. To rebalance a new country, Cork must not just step up but lead, something that generations of Corkonians believe is their destiny. (I speak as the sole Jackeen cousin of a large Cork family, so I know a thing or two about Cork’s manifest destiny!)

From an exclusively economic perspective, Cork has lots going for it. The latest figures show that the jurisdiction’s second-largest and fastest-growing city has a population of 210,000, rising to 305,000 in the broader metro area. The county contributes 19 per cent of national gross domestic product and has the fourth-highest disposable income per capita in the country. In terms of an........

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