Government backs Cork Event Centre despite 10 years of inaction, Taoiseach says

Derelict site branded ‘biggest white elephant’ in Cork City by Social Democrats Taoiseach Michéal Martin has said the Government remains committed to the €80 million Cork Event Centre but would not commit to a delivery time some 10 years after former taoiseach Enda Kenny launched the project.Martin said he had previously been critical of the decision by Kenny to turn the sod for the 6,000-seat event centre at the site of the former Beamish and Crawford site on South Main Street in Cork on February 12th, 2016, 10 days before that year’s general election.“Well, as you know, I was in opposition at the time, and I might have called it out at the time for what it was. It shouldn’t have happened that event, because it was nowhere near even starting when that happened,” said Martin.He said that in the meantime, he and Cork City Council had advanced the project. READ MOREMan who alleged ex-partner cut his face and arms gets protection order against herMunich was no love-in, but Rubio spared Europe a Valentine’s Day massacre Mary Black: ‘It’s beginning to sink in, this goodbye is a bigger deal than I thought’Love for life: ‘That evening, my life changed. The rest is history’ The original projected cost of the scheme when developers BAM won the contract was about €50 million, with the State due to contribute €20 million of this via Cork City Council and central government.But the cost has since spiralled to over €80 million due to the centre having to be redesigned. In October 2024, Attorney General Rossa Fanning advised that the scheme needed to be put out to tender again as the State’s projected contribution had risen to €50 million.Martin said Cork City Council had appointed an independent consultant, Aecom, to advise on tenders received under the new public procurement process and head a project management delivery team.“That process is now under way,” he said. “I can’t give a timeline to it. I would hope soon, I mean, it has to be done properly. That’s legal advice we’ve received, and the Government will respond when we get the outcome of that, but I do accept that there is frustration.”[ Forty-five years after Stardust fire, family and emergency services attend memorialOpens in new window ]Martin was responding to comments from Cork South Central Social Democrat TD Pádraig Rice, who said the lack of progress on the project was “indicative of the Government’s attitude to Cork” as he and party colleagues unveiled a plaque to what he described as “the non-event centre”.Rice said the turning of the sod by Kenny, flanked by Fine Gael and Labour ministers, was “a nice photo op but nothing more ... a decade on, the only thing the people of Cork have been left with is a large derelict site in the city centre – it is nothing more than an eyesore”.Latest information available shows that €2.2 million has been spent on the process so far, he said, describing it as one of the most expensive vacant sites, and one of the biggest white elephants, in the city. Cork City Council in a statement said it “acknowledged the frustration in relation to the delivery of this important piece of infrastructure for Cork City”, but “expects to see substantial progress on this key project for the city in 2026”.It confirmed the overall expenditure on the project since 2014 to year end 2025 was more than €2.2 million, with over €599,000 of this being spent on the new process – of which €472,000 has been paid to Aecom.