Peter Aiken: Cork Event Centre may be 'out of date' by the time it's built

Cork Event Centre may be out of date before it is even built, one of Ireland’s leading music promoters has said.

Peter Aiken, head of Aiken Promotions, was speaking at the announcement of the first act in next year’s Live at the Marquee series, a Rory Gallagher celebration by US guitarist Joe Bonamassa.

The sod was turned for the events centre just before the 2016 general election but, more than eight years later, not a brick has been laid.

Mr Aiken said he could not understand how it had proven so difficult to progress the building of a 6,000-person arena, and he contrasted it to the success of Live at the Marquee, which was first held in 2005.

“There was a famous picture of the Government turning the sod and people’s expectations were that it was going to happen,” said Mr Aiken.

“Yet we’ve gone along and put up a tent in a car park, we’ve done a couple of hundred gigs there, we’ve had one and half million people through the doors.

“It just seems that maybe the events centre is out of date by the time they even build it.”