Revealed: The people chosen to deliver Cork's long-delayed event centre
The site of the proposed Cork Event Centre on South Main Street. Picture: Larry Cummins
The names of the people tasked with delivering an event centre for Cork have been revealed.
The has learned that seven people have been chosen to sit on the project development board, which will spend the next 12 to 18 months overseeing the new procurement process announced by Cabinet last October.
It is chaired by assistant chief executive of Cork City Council Brian Geaney, and held its first formal meeting in January. The other members include:
- Gary O’Doherty, principal officer at the Department of Local Government;
- Conor Healy, chief executive of Cork Chamber;
- Aaron Mansworth, of the Cork Business Association;
- Dr Jean van Sinderen Law, associate vice-president at University College Cork, where she is director of European relations and public affairs;
- Assistant chief state solicitor Ciara Murphy, who heads up the commercial and employment law division of the Chief State Solicitor’s Office, which also handles public procurement law;
- and Fiach Mac Conghail, chief executive officer of The Digital Hub, a former director of the Abbey Theatre, and a former special adviser to former arts minister John O'Donoghue from 2002 to 2005.
The board will oversee a new procurement process which Cabinet said was required given the scale of increase in available State funding for the proposed 6,000 capacity venue on South Main Street, which had its sod turned nine years ago. Not a single brick has been laid on the project since.
The cost of the delivering the venue has soared from an initial estimate of about €50m to about €150m.
The amount of available State aid has also soared, from €20m in the original tender won by construction firm Bam in 2014, to the €57m pledged shortly after covid.
But as building costs soar, it is understood government was told last year an additional €30m to €40m in State aid was required.
Amid concerns about State aid rules, legal advice to Cabinet led to October’s decision to order a new tendering process, further delaying an already long-stalled project.
Bam and Live Nation, which are behind the proposed South Main Street venue, could face competition from the Marina Market, which is designing a venue for its South Docklands site, and awaiting details on the competition.
The has asked for the project development board's terms of reference but the city council said while they had been agreed, they needed to be issued to Government first before they could be distributed.
In an update to city councillors on Thursday, Mr Geaney said February’s board meeting reviewed progress on the delivery of “this important infrastructure project”.
“The council outlined its progress on the procurement of a competent project management delivery team and preparations for a competition to design and deliver the Cork event centre. The board was satisfied with the approach and progress to date,” he said.
Labour councillor Peter Horgan welcomed the update, but said he planned to ask if the office of Lord Mayor could be included on the board to ensure elected member representation in a non-party political manner.
