Events centre off the agenda

It’s a case of as you were for the stalled events centre amid a lack of discussion about it during an external cabinet meeting yesterday in Cork City Hall.

During a media conference after the cabinet meeting, An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was asked for an update on the 6,000 seater project on South Main Street.

He said: “It wasn’t an item today at cabinet but given that a number of key ministers and officials are in Cork for the past two days, we took the opportunity to have meetings with all the different players involved in this project and we are working on a solution. It’s a project that I really want to see happen. I think it would be an enormous benefit for the city in terms of tourism and business.”

However he said it was not solely a government project and involves Cork City Council and the private sector.

He finished: “Everyone is around the table and wants to make this happen.”

The sod was turned on it in February 2016, a move that has since been labelled a stunt as it happened a few days before the last general election.

Since then, the multi-million euro project has hit with numerous delays and false starts, including revised planning applications and delays in agreeing funding between the Government, Cork City Council, developers BAM and promoters Live Nation.

However, one of the items that was discussed at the meeting was changing how Irish law deals with harmful content online. They discussed a bill by Labour leader Brendan Howlin which when enacted will make revenge porn illegal in this country.

He said: "There will be criminal sanction for those who engage in revenge porn. We can’t give any guarantees on timelines on legislation. Unfortunately, not having majority in the Dáil or Seanad (means) a lot of legislation is taking longer to get through than we would like.”

He confirmed that Charlie Flanagan, the Minister for Justice and Equality, will give details about the new law at a later date.