Cabinet close to decision on additional funding for Cork Event Centre 

THE cabinet is close to a decision on additional state funding sought for the city’s long-awaited event centre, Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said.

The consortium that won the tender for the centre, Bam and Live Nation, was initially expected to benefit from a €20m state aid package, which was later increased to €50m and then to €57m.

It was revealed at a meeting of Cork City Council in December that the event centre project would require an additional funding allocation following the completion of detailed design. Mr Martin said when the most recent increased funding allocation was approved two years ago, government said it would look at any inflation impact between that date and when detailed design was complete.

Since the completion of detailed design, costs associated with the project have “gone up again significantly”.

“So you are facing a situation where the State is investing more than, significantly more than, the private sector partner.

“So that’s gone through due diligence and it has at both the Department of Housing and the Department of Public Expenditure, but we are close to a decision on this,” he told The Echo. The Tánaiste said that the event centre project could help lead a rejuvenation of the city centre.

Asked if he believed the site that has been earmarked for the development is the best possible site in the city, he said: “That argument is over.

“I mean, if we start going back on that, you can forget about your event centre for another 10 years, it seems to me. I think the merits of it are that it’s in the city centre,” Mr Martin continued.

He pointed out that planned public transport improvements will lead to an enhanced accessibility of the site. The Tánaiste said that, in an era of increased remote working, the event centre project could provide a boost to local businesses.

“You do need to look at activities that will keep the city centre alive. There’s a danger in how the world is changing — you look at remote working, that has an impact on city centre business,” he said.

“When people come to a place to work, in the multi-nationals we have here, they want a city that’s alive with theatre, with entertainment, with a good social scene, good academic scene and good education scene — we’re a university city — so that all does dovetail back to keeping the city centre a lively, attractive place to work, live, and enjoy.”