Cork event centre in further €2m funding injection

The Government has allocated a further €2m toward the Cork Event Centre, almost doubling the amount already spent before a brick has been laid.

This latest funding is to help move the project to tender stage.

The additional funding was disclosed at a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage this week.

Last month, The Echo revealed that Cork City Council has so far spent €2.2m on the long-awaited event centre — mostly on consultancy and legal fees.

The initial tender for the 6,000-seat multi-purpose centre was awarded in 2014 to the Irish arm of Dutch construction firm Bam, which secured planning for a proposed €50.4m venue on the former Beamish and Crawford site on South Main St, with €20m in State aid agreed.

The event centre was initially expected to be completed by 2018, but projected costs spiralled to about €150m, with the required State funding rising to €57m in 2021.

A further €40m in State aid was deemed necessary before the Cabinet decided in October 2024 that a new procurement process was necessary to satisfy EU rules.

A new project management delivery team for the centre, led by Cork City Council assistant chief executive Brian Geaney, was established in January 2025.

Mr Geaney told The Echo the preliminary business case had been submitted to the Government in December, and, pending its approval, the event centre is expected to go again to tender in the coming months.

“We’re not getting into timelines at this stage, because the last thing this project needs is another false timeline, but once the approval comes through, we will be commencing the tendering process in March,” he said.

Mr Geaney said the additional €2m in funding will “cover the professional fees to advance the project in the current year”.

He added that the process complies with guidelines put in place by the Department of Public Expenditure, with the costs necessary to move the project forward.

Séamus McGrath, Fianna Fáil TD for Cork South Central, said he welcomed the provision of additional funding for the progression of “this critical project” for Cork.

“I fully recognise the deep disappointment that this project did not progress in recent years, but I believe it is now on a pathway to delivery and this funding represents significant commitment from Government,” he said.

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

It is understood that while the South Main St site is in contention, there is no guarantee it will be chosen.

However, an extension of planning for that site was granted early last year, and that may play a part in the final decision.

This month marked the tenth anniversary of the sod-turning by the then taoiseach Enda Kenny at the Bam site, alongside tánaiste Joan Burton, agriculture minister Simon Coveney, and lord mayor Chris O’Leary.

Two weeks ago, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that sod-turning should never have occurred as the development “was nowhere near even starting when that happened”.