In short
- The catalogue has one agency in Cork: Lockdown Models, a PR, events and model agency.
- It has no working website, and its company's status in the register is "Strike Off Listed"; its models are credited in Cork fashion coverage from the past year.
- Models of the Killarney agency Upfront Model Management work in Cork too, and the country's largest market is Dublin.
Lockdown Models
Cork is Ireland's second-largest city and the largest in the south. Of the 19 Irish agencies in our catalogue, one is here. Ireland has neither a licence written for model agencies nor an association of them, so the catalogue lists every business that represents models. We do not vouch for them, and each profile shows what we found, good and bad: fees charged to applicants, courses, the company's status in the register and press reports.
Lockdown Models is a PR, events and model agency. Its social media account is run by Vivienne McCarthy, and the agency calls itself the founder of Cork Fashion Festival. The agency's old blog, written from 2008 to 2012, calls it Lockdown Events & Model Management and names Vivienne Kelly and Emer O'Sullivan as directors. The local daily The Echo wrote in 2018 that the founders of Lockdown PR, who also created Cork Fashion Week, had been in business for 15 years.
Two things are useful to know in advance. The agency's website, lockdown.ie, did not open on 11 October 2026, so we could not check its model board and the catalogue assigns it no boards. The company Lockdown Events & Model Management Limited, registered in 2006, has the CRO status "Strike Off Listed": it is on the list of companies to be struck off, and its last annual return is dated 2020. We included the agency because its models were credited in an RTÉ fashion item from Cork within the past year and its social media account is live.
In 2010 the agency's directors told the Irish Examiner that bogus talent scouts posing as its representatives were asking young people for personal details and photographs. If someone writes to you in this agency's name, check the contact on its official account.
Other markets
- Dublin has 12 of the 19 catalogue agencies and hosts part of Ireland Fashion Week.
- Killarney has Upfront Model Management, which represents models in Cork, Kerry and Dublin.
- Waterford has Prima Model Agency, which works across the South East.
How to get started
- Take simple digitals in daylight and write down accurate measurements.
- Read on the agency's profile what we found about its company and website, and before you meet, ask who the contract would be with.
- Before you sign, ask for the contract in writing and look in it for the commission, the length of the exclusivity and the payment term. No law or association sets the commission in Ireland.
- Be wary of people who write in an agency's name from personal accounts and of pressure to pay at once: these are signs of a modeling scam.
- The licence, commission, tax, the PPS number and the rules for minors are covered in the guide Modeling agencies in Ireland.