He settled for about the last seventeen years of his life in the area then known as "Corcach Mór na Mumhan"(the Great Marsh of Munster), now the city of Cork, where he gathered around him monks and students. This became an important centre of learning, giving rise to the phrase "Ionad Bairre Sgoil na Mumhan". "Where Finbarr taught let Munster learn", is the motto of today's University College Cork in English but is not a translation of the Irish motto "Ionad Bairre Sgoil na Mumhan" which means "Finbarr's foundation, the School of Munster".