I have flown to and from cork airport on numerous occasions and not much changes each time. The airport is a small airport which in itself has pros and cons.

TO AND FROM THE AIRPORT
The airport isn't that close to Cork city centre so you will have to make arrangements to travel to the city if you have accommodation there. One good thing about the airport is that Cork is convenient for those wishing to travel around he south of Ireland being about an hours drive from many of the highlights in the south.

To get into the city centre a taxi will cost between 10-15 euros depending on the traffic.
If you book online in advance a return bus fare to the city centre will cost 7.60 euros for an adult and 4.75 for a child.

PARKING
Car hire is available at the airport for those wishing to travel around a bit. To park in the airport costs
at least 10 euros per day, all depending on what special offers are on at the time. The last time I checked it was 35 euros for 3 nights and that was with a 40% off special offer. There is a car park 5 minutes away on a free transfer bus which is about half the price of parking in the airport itself.

INSIDE THE AIRPORT
The airport is small which is good because it is very easy to find your check in desk, there is one row of desks for all flights and everything is in the one area of the building. There is also only one security check point with only 2 belts for your bags and coats to go through, which again means it is a simple process as there is only one queue for security. The down side to this is that if it is a busy time the queues could be long but due to a cut back in the routes they offer from the airport it never seems to be too busy and I've never waited more than 5 minutes to go through security.

There are only ever a handful of boarding gates in use at any one time and again they are all in one place on the upper level of the airport. This makes it easy to find your gate and there are not doors, stairs and escalators everywhere. When getting on and off a flight in Cork airport you'll never have more than a few minutes of a walk which is good and there is only one section where you can collect bags and go through passport control.

After getting lost and confused in many airports (Dublin and Gatwick being two shockers) I found this airport so easy to figure out where you're going and with no miles of walking to exit the airport after landing.

The downside to the airport being small is the fact that there isn't a lot to do. Most of the time when I go I only take hand luggage and tend to arrive at the airport with just over an hour until departure so this isn't a problem. The problem is if you get delayed. There is a newsagents, coffee shop, book shop, customer service desk, Subway, toilets, check in desks and a seating area for people waiting for people in arrivals.
Upstairs there is a restaurant - this is expensive and useless. The last time I was hear I paid 10 euros for a cup of tar like coffee, black toast and scrambled eggs that resembled angel delight or jelly, how I kept it down during the flight I will never know, how I got it down in the first place is a more baffling question!

That is all that is there until you go through security where it gets worse. There is a small bar which sells some kind of takeaway breakfast for about 5 euros which is better than the restaurant but not that great either. There is another couple of newsagents, an expensive sandwich and pastry stall, a duty free shop and more toilets.
The only food in the airport which is worth what you pay for it is the subway which is the same price as other subway outlets. Other than this I would advise taking a sandwich with you as there is very little to choose from in the airport.

Overall
The airport is good, a good few routes no longer fly from Cork though but it is a good airport all the same. Flights can be picked up at good prices and the whole airport process is stress free and simple. The only downfall is the lack of anything to do and the poor food places.