Lord Mayor will not be on Cork Event Centre oversight board

The Lord Mayor will not be joining the board overseeing the event centre development, the chair of the board has said, as a councillor has called for a greater role for elected members in the ongoing saga.

A project development board (PDB), led by Cork City Council, was established to expedite the process of retendering, after it was announced by the Government at the end of last year that this would be necessary given the time that had passed since permission was initially granted.

The PDB is chaired by the assistant chief executive of Cork City Council, Brian Geaney, and has representation from several Government departments and agencies, as well as members with relevant experience and expertise from Cork. It has met three times this year and is scheduled to meet monthly throughout 2025.

Labour Party councillor Peter Horgan asked the executive if Mr Geaney would include the office of Lord Mayor as a member of the board “to ensure elected members representation on it in a non-party political manner and as part of the oversight brief of this project”.

Mr Geaney told him: “As the PDB is already the oversight body overseeing the overall project delivery of the Cork Event Centre, it would not be normal or effective for board members to be elected members that are changing annually.

“However, as chairperson of the PDB, I am and will give regular updates and briefings to council as the project progresses.”

At this week’s council meeting, Mr Horgan asked if the council had any further say on the project, such as if a different site was chosen, would they be given the opportunity to vote on it.

Mr Geaney said that approval for further planning permission would go directly to the Government.

Mr Horgan told The Echo he believes there should be a role for elected members of the council “if we are back to square one of the tendering result”. “Council, in 2014, voted on the preferred site, and if that site is to be changed and the process is changed, then surely we, as elected members of the city, must have a say,” he added.