Cork city councillors ‘in the dark’ on events centre

The retendering of the events centre has not yet been communicated to Cork city councillors, leaving them “in the dark” one has said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage said last week that given the current project costs, the procurement process undertaken for the events centre in 2014 “cannot support the level of grant funding now required”.

“It is now clear that the surefooted way of ensuring that an events centre is developed in Cork city is to commence the procurement process and State Aid engagement afresh,” they explained.

The spokesperson confirmed it is the Government’s intention to appoint a project development board, led by Cork City Council, “to ensure that the most appropriate funding and ownership model is chosen and that those preferred models inform the new procurement process”.

Labour Party councillor for the city’s South East ward Peter Horgan said he wants to see representatives from government come to the council to explain why the long stalled project is being retendered.

He explained: “Retendering of the event centre has not been communicated to elected members from any official source to date.

“I want to have representatives from government, including the Attorney General, come to Cork City Council and explain why the retendering is needed and what the implications are for the project and the realistic timeline,” he said.

“There are a heap of questions on what happens next, timelines, ramifications of other tenders and as elected members we are being left in the dark.”

“Cabinet has made this call on advice received,” and they must now “publish the advice in full and let us evaluate it.

“Confidence in this project is non-existent from the Cork people and the simple question is — where is our events centre?”