'Cloaked in secrecy': Labour candidate calls for events centre documents to be published

LOCAL election candidate in Cork city, Peter Horgan has reiterated his call for all documents relating to the Cork events centre to be published in a bid to restore public confidence in the project.

His comments come as a memo to Government seeking additional State funding for the long-awaited venue is expected to be submitted soon.

Speaking to The Echo, Mr Horgan, a Labour Party candidate in the city’s South East ward, said the project has now become “farcical” and said transparency is needed to “rebuild public confidence”.

“The fact that it has been confirmed that further State aid is required but we don’t know how much State aid before it would go for a decision at Cabinet doesn’t sit right with me.

“It should come back to city council either this council before June if there is a final decision on further State aid or the new council to formally confirm whether or not they want to proceed with this project,” Mr Horgan continued.

“Because €57m at the moment is a lot of money and if there’s more State aid, pro rata are we looking at a €70m investment of public funds into a private entity?

“The fact that it’s still cloaked in secrecy is wrong, in my opinion.” The consortium which won the tender for the centre, BAM and Live Nation, were initially expected to benefit from a €20m State aid package for the development, which was later increased to €50m and then to €57m.

Speaking this week, Cork City Council’s chief executive, Ann Doherty, explained that the local authority has completed all of the necessary paperwork in relation to the request for further State funding.

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien — in a written response to a question from the Labour Party this month — said Cork City Council have submitted “a number of documents in the last six weeks” which are being reviewed by the Department and that there is “ongoing engagement in that regard with the council”.

“In order to maintain the integrity of the decision-making process, it is not my intention to release and/or publish the documents submitted to date by Cork City Council.

“I expect that a decision on the Events Centre could be made in Q1 of 2024 but this is ultimately a matter for Government,” he added.