Event centre to be retendered
By Finnian Cox
Further delays to the Cork Events Centre project have been met with disappointment on Leeside.
In a joint statement, Cork Chamber, the Cork Business Association (CBA), the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF), the Vintners Federation (VFI) and the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) described the project as “long overdue”.
First announced in 2014, the project has faced numerous delays, including a redesign, planning delays and the pandemic, which has led to the project now facing a retendering process.
The construction was initially expected to cost €50m when then-taoiseach Enda Kenny turned the first sod in 2016 - however, the cost of the project has since risen over €100m.
In their joint statement, the chamber said that all parties must commit to delivering the project ahead of the upcoming general election, describing it as a “key infrastructure project for Cork and the wider region”.
“It is vital that this new retendering process is undertaken and completed as a matter of urgency,” they added, as well as illustrating the importance that “clear timelines are provided for the events centre’s final delivery”.
“The events centre has been hit by delay after delay in the eight years since the sod was turned on the site in 2016; now is the time to make a firm commitment to its long-awaited delivery.”
The consortium that won the tender, BAM and LiveNation were initially set to benefit from €57m worth of state aid, however it is expected that an additional €30-€40m is now required.
In response to a question by Labour’s Peter Horgan, Cork City Councillors heard that the council has spent €1.6m on legal and consultant services linked to the project since 2013.
Decisions on the project were also hit by delays, with a decision on additional funding - expected before the summer Dáil recess - which never happened, as well as expectations that the decision would be made before the Budget in October.
Under the current plans for the development, the centre would have capacity of 6,000 seats, with an expected attendance of 500,000 people per-annum.
The centre is set to be built on the former Beamish and Crawford site on Cork’s South Main Street, which has been a vacant lot for a number of years.