Cork Events Centre tendering process to begin in new year

Cork City Council hopes to begin the tendering process for the long-awaited Cork Events Centre early in the new year, a full decade after the sod was turned on the original proposed site.

This will be the second time the project has gone out to tender. This latest tender process comes after the October 2024 Cabinet decision that there needed to be a new procurement process to satisfy EU rules.

The new process means the centre’s final location may not be known until long after the tendering process is complete.

A preliminary business case for the project has been submitted to the Department of Housing, Heritage and Local Government this week by the Events Centre’s development board. Cork City Council told councillors it expects formal approval of the business case in January, enabling tendering to commence.

Plans for the centre date back almost two decades, and the sod was turned on the proposed South Main St site of the 6,000-seat venue 10 days before the February 2016 election.

Projected costs for the centre have tripled from an estimated €50m to about €150m, while the required State funding rose to €57m in 2021, with a further €40m now believed necessary.

The Lord Mayor of Cork, councillor Fergal Dennehy, described the submission of the PBC as “a very welcome and positive development for the city”.

He said it represented an important milestone in advancing the long-awaited project. “The expectation that formal approval will be received in January, enabling the tendering process to commence, is particularly encouraging,” Mr Dennehy said.

“The delivery of a world-class Events Centre would be of significant benefit to Cork city. It has the potential to support economic growth, boost tourism, enhance Cork’s cultural offering, and strengthen the city’s ability to attract major national and international events.”

The Events Centre had seen several false starts, Mr Dennehy said, but the latest development “finally looks like things are moving again”.

The new project management delivery team, led by Brian Geaney, assistant chief executive of Cork City Council, has met each month since January, and is seen by some in the council as adding fresh urgency to the project.

Labour Party councillor Peter Horgan said that the submission of the preliminary business case has now put the development into the hands of central Government.

“What is critical now is that there is no delay from Government in approving the business case and allowing the tenders to be issued as close to January 1,” he said.

“If there is another site that can handle an Events Centre then we need to see the whites of its eyes and critically hold it to the sunlight.

“I am of the opinion the final matter should come back to city councillors not just Government, if the site is changing.”

Two years ago, Mr Horgan told The Echo that “the Events Centre project, sadly, has now become one of mirth and ridicule and a totem to the ballooning costs associated with public projects”.