Cork Event Centre process 'flawed and not fit for purpose'

The drawn-out process from the Cork Event Centre's sod-turning in 2016 to the Government's decision to retender the project in 2024 was flawed and not fit for purpose.

That is according to Cork City Council assistant chief executive Brian Geaney, who was appointed head of a new project development board for the event centre in January 2025.

He told the Oireachtas housing committee that the Government’s 2024 decision to retender the project had put the process “literally back at square one”.

However, he said he expected to see “substantial progress this year” but cautioned that “the last thing this project needs is another false timeline”.

Asked by Séamus McGrath, Fianna Fáil TD for Cork South Central, if he was “confident and upbeat” about progress on the event centre, Mr Geaney replied that “the current process being undertaken is extremely professional, and being done in a very competent way”.

Mr Geaney said it was a matter of public record that the original process had been flawed, and this was proven by the need for retendering.

“Others judged that the previous process didn’t stand up to scrutiny, regardless of my opinion, and the truth of that is it wasn’t approved,” he said.

“Obviously, the government at the time, following their advices, deemed that it was not fit for purpose.

“It just went on too long, it was an elongated procurement process where the amounts of State aid jumped at various increments.” 

Mr Geaney said the previous project had been flawed from the beginning, when no project management team was appointed to oversee it.

“For projects of this scale, the first thing to do is appoint a professional project management team, like, for example, Aecom, which was the first thing that I initiated as chair of the new project development board.” 

 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 & Crawford site on South Main St, with €20m in State aid agreed.

The sod was turned by then taoiseach Enda Kenny in February 2016, days before a general election, but the project has since stalled.

Costs spiralled from an original estimated cost of €50m to between €150m and €200m by the end of 2024. It saw the required State funding rise from €20m in 2016 to €30m in 2018, €50m in 2020, to an eventual €57m, which led to the October 2024 government decision to retender.

Mr Geaney was appointed chair of the new project development board in January 2025, and in February the Government allocated a further €2m towards the project, on top of the €2.2m already spent mostly on consultancy and legal fees.

A preliminary business case was approved by Cabinet in April of this year.

A spokesperson for the council last week confirmed that it had received a number of submissions of event centre proposals through the suitability assessment questionnaire (SAQ) process, but would not confirm the exact number or identities of the bidders.

The original proposal from BAM to develop an arena on the old Beamish site on South Main St, backed by concert giant Live Nation, remains in contention.

Urban Green Private, Tom Coughlan’s real estate firm, has proposed the development of a 4,000- to 5,000-seat venue at the Marina Market retail location.

Cork GAA has also submitted a bid proposing an event centre at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh’s 4G pitch.

Cork City Council said that an evaluation of the SAQs will take place that will lead to a shortlisting of viable proposals.