The director of Cork 2005 has hit back at critics who claim the city's year as European Capital of Culture was of little appeal to "the ordinary man", insisting his team delivered a first-rate programme of arts and cultural activity over the past 12 months.
Speaking on Cork's 96FM John Kennedy said he was troubled by the expressions "the ordinary man" and "the man in the street" when referring to the year.
"What is or who is the ordinary man? I don't think anybody would ever satisfy all of the definitions of this ordinary man. I think we got it as good as anybody could have," Mr Kennedy said.
"Figures coming in will show one million people came to events out of the programme. A million people went to arts and cultural events in Cork.
"A lot of them, I am sure, were 'ordinary people' who made the effort."
Mr Kennedy, who is winding down the 2005 office, said he was confident additional tourists would travel to the city as a result of the publicity surrounding Cork's year as European Capital of Culture.
Previous holders of the title noticed a major influx of cultural tourists the summer after their designated year, he said.
Meanwhile, some 400 to 500 foreign journalists visited Cork during the year to report on the celebrations.
Tourism Ireland has predicted that the newspaper space devoted to Cork 2005 overseas was worth between €6.5 million and €7 million in free advertising.
Mr Kennedy said he was particularly proud of the community projects held in the city and county, which attracted 28,000 participants.
A further 5,000 took part in arts activities in hospitals and nursing homes in Cork over the last 12 months.
He added that the much-maligned knitting map, a computer-guided textile imaging of Cork's climate created by 2,000 volunteers, was in demand as an exhibit.
"It was a great community art piece. It is a piece of fibre art, to give it its proper title, which people want to show and exhibit and are curious about all over Europe," he said.