Event centre retendering process could take 18 months
The site of the proposed Cork event centre on South Main Street, Cork. Picture: Larry Cummins
It could take between 12 to 18 months to complete the retendering process for the massive State aid package on offer for the proposed Cork event centre project.
The latest extension to an already long-stalled project comes ahead of the first meeting on Friday of the board set up to oversee the new procurement process.
The timeline update on a project which had its sod turned in 2016 but where construction has yet to start, was provided by the outgoing minister for local government Darragh O’Brien in a written response to a parliamentary question from Labour TD Eoghan Kenny.
Mr Kenny asked the minister to set out the documents he had personally reviewed in relation to potential land acquisition for the proposed venue, and the timeline for making decisions on the retendering.
In his response, the minister said there were "no proposals for land acquisition to date”, and he restated the government’s commitment to the project arising out of the last government’s decision last October to order a full retendering process for the available state aid, which has soared from €20m in 2016 to €57m post covid.
Repeated delays and redesigns have seen the costs soar, with sources indicating another €30m to €40m in State aid is required.
Given the scale of change in the funding model, and amid concerns about State aid rules, Cabinet last October ordered a new tendering process, and the setting-up of a project development board to oversee the process.
Mr O’Brien said the event centre was included as a government commitment under the revised National Development Plan in 2021, "underlining its support for urban regeneration, enhanced amenity and heritage, associated quality-of-life standards, balanced regional development, and the regeneration and development of Cork city centre.”
“The government decision of October 22, 2024, re-affirms its commitment to and ongoing exchequer funding support for an events centre in Cork city, given its strategic alignment with the growth ambition for Cork City, as set out in the National Planning Framework and the National Development Plan,” he said.
It was that decision that required a new procurement process and the setting-up of a project development board, led by Cork City Council, to expedite the process.
That board will be formally established and its terms of reference agreed.
“The government decision of October 22 notes that every effort will be made by the project development board to ensure that the new procurement process, State aid clearance and planning compliance are completed within a 12- to 18-month period,” Mr O'Brien said.
BAM won the initial tender for State aid in 2014.
But its five-year grant of planning for its 6,000-capacity venue on South Main St is due to expire in March.
The operators of Marina Market, which is working to design a new 5,000-seat conference space, a 100-bed hotel, and a gallery, focused on its south docklands site, may also seek to compete in the new tender.
