Confidence in Cork's event centre project is in tatters. Is there any chance of it being restored?
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After yet another year of delay and frustration, more transparency is vital to restore public confidence in the beleaguered Cork event centre project.
The call comes from Labour city councillor Peter Horgan as work starts on the re-tendering process for what could top €90m in State aid — four times more than what was won in the initial tender almost a decade ago.
As the ninth anniversary of the sod-turning on the Bam/Live Nation site on South Main St approaches, the State looks set to take a much bigger stake in the project given the massive increase in available State aid.
Exactly how it will do that is now a matter for the oversight board which has been set up to drive the re-tendering process.
And, as if this project wasn’t complicated enough already, throw in the fact that planning permission on the South Main St site is set to expire within months, and that now two contenders are set to vie for the State aid package as part of a re-tendering process that could take anything between 12 to 18 months to complete, and delivery of this project looks as uncertain and as far away as ever before.
The very mention of the project at public gatherings prompts laughter. Confidence in the project is shredded.
Charting the timeline of how we got here is easy.
Explaining how and why we got here is more complicated because of the reluctance on the part of various State departments to grant Freedom of Information (FoI) requests, with commercial and legal sensitivities relating to an ongoing process most frequently cited as grounds for refusal.
Since 2017, Mr Horgan has submitted multiple FoI requests to several government departments seeking information on the tortuous process, most of which have either been refused or partially granted.
He has released the results of his latest effort — where an 18-page document was so heavily redacted that just three paragraphs were readable — to demonstrate how difficult it is to get any information or insights into the process. Mr Horgan said:
“I am not against this project. Just because I’m asking questions, doesn’t mean I don’t want to see it built. I do want to see it built. I think it can still happen, it should happen.
“But this is public money. It is being funded by our money, by the peoples’ money, and we still don’t know what the level of public investment will be.
“I have been met with a wall of silence, a wall of frustration, trying to get information on this. And if you tell people nothing, people get frustrated and suspicious.
“Now, with another layer on top of it, in terms of the development board, it runs the risk of even more silence. We need to be open with people if we are to restore public trust and confidence in this project.”
Arising out of Cabinet’s decision in October to re-tender the project, and to set up a project development board to expedite the process, Mr Horgan submitted an FoI request to the Department of Local Government seeking all documents from June 1, 2024 to October 28, 2024, between the minister Darragh O’Brien, and his officials relating to the establishment of the board for the Cork event centre.
The department identified 53 relevant records, including emails, email threads, draft memos, comments on the drafts, and final memos between various senior officials, the Attorney General’s office, the minister’s special adviser, the minister himself, correspondence with the Taoiseach’s department, correspondence on draft speaking and briefing notes for the minister.
Several records, running to dozens of pages, relate to the preparation throughout September of a memo to Government as it was preparing to make its decision on the re-tendering process.
But the department refused access to 51 records, granting part-access only to two records — an email, excluding its two attachments, and that heavily redacted 18-page memo.
In its response to Mr Horgan, the department explained how following completion of the detailed design work on the events centre in 2023, the city council submitted a final business case for the project to the department in February, 2024.
It said the Government decision in October, to begin the State aid tendering process again, included a “reaffirmation of the Government’s commitment to and ongoing exchequer funding support for an events centre in Cork city, given its strategic alignment with the growth ambition for the city, as set out in the National Planning Framework and the National Development Plan”.
It said during the intervening months, the department completed a rigorous review of the final business case and supporting documentation, and sought and received legal opinions from the Attorney General’s office and the Chief State Solicitor’s office which were considered carefully in the process of preparing the memo for Government, upon which it relied to make the decision in October to order the re-tendering.
It said “a significant number of emails and documents” which were considered for the FoI contain advice and opinions created by the Attorney General’s office and the Chief State Solicitor’s office which are both restricted under sections of the FOI Act 2014, and it set out the various reasons for refusal to release the documents.
“All of the emails and documents were either submitted to the Government for its consideration as part of the memo for Government or they contain information (including advice) which the Government needed for the purpose of making their decision on the Cork Events Centre,” it said.
Of the two records released, one was an email, dated July 23, 2024, from a housing official to the housing minister, who had been invited to attend a meeting of the party leaders (Simon Harris, Micheál Martin, and Eamon Ryan) that evening to discuss the event centre project, but he was unable to attend.
The email explains how papers on the project had been prepared previously, and then updated on receipt of additional information, including advice from the Attorney General.
It sets out how a memo could be prepared for Government, if required, and it included two attachments — a short memo, and a comprehensive memo which includes legal advice from the Attorney General and advice from the Department of Local Government.
The release of the attachments under FoI was refused.
The second record which was released under this FoI request was an 18-page memo — a draft update memo on the event centre project — again dated July 23, 2024.
It is not clear if this was one of the attachments on the email to the minister.
All but three paragraphs on page 15 are redacted.
These paragraphs are in a section titled ‘Options for Government Decision, July 2024’ which appears to have set out several options, with possible scenarios and timelines included.
But, because of the redaction, only a few paragraphs linked to option A, the option ultimately chosen by Cabinet in October, are released.
This section acknowledges “the potentially very significant benefits” to Cork City and county and the wider southern region of proceeding with the event centre, but the memo says “having considered and evaluated the final business case submitted, the legal advice obtained and the significant risks to successful delivery of the proposed events centre project”, various options are set out.
Again, heavy redaction prevents a proper assessment but one of the options includes the setting up a project governance structure to ensure that the revised tendering process is overseen by a project development board with representation from the relevant government departments, and the Attorney General and Chief State Solicitor’s office, and is undertaken by a project management delivery team led by Cork City Council.
It says the project development board will report on progress to Government every three months from the date of the Government decision.
The memo also sets out likely timelines, but again this section is heavily redacted, with just the following released: “A project development board will need to be established and reconsider all aspects of the project including the appropriate funding model vis à vis public/private ownership/PPP etc, engagement with the Commission re compliance with State Aid provisions and finally determination of the most appropriate procurement process to be undertaken.”
A lot of water has flowed under Cork’s historic South Gate Bridge since the sod for the event centre was turned on the riverbank site just weeks before the 2016 general election.
Of the six people in that now infamous sod-turning photo, just one is still involved in the process.
Then lord mayor, Chris O’Leary, is no longer a public representative. Former Labour Party leader Joan Burton, former tánaiste Simon Coveney, and former taoiseach Enda Kenny have all retired from politics, and former Bam executive, Theo Cullinane, has also retired. Live Nation’s Mike Adamson is the only one left.
Two general elections, two council chief executives, and eight years later, not a brick has been laid, and the process is effectively back to square one with a new tendering process.
Mr Horgan said he will continue to press for information as the project winds on.
The definitive timeline on the Cork event centre saga
2007
Former city manager Joe Gavin drafts a proposal, backed by councillors, that would see Cork City Council offer to meet 25% of the cost of providing a large-scale events centre, up to a maximum of €12m, after commissioned reports show that such a venue could not and would not be built without some level of state support. Interested parties are invited to come forward with a suitable site, and with a design, build, fund and manage proposal, and effectively pitch for the funding. Submissions were received from Hyde Partnership for a site on Carrigrohane Road, Ascon for a site at Black Ash, Howard Holdings for a site in the south docklands and Medaza for a site at the Showgrounds. The Howard Holdings proposal for a €33m event centre as part of its hugely ambitious €1bn Atlantic Quarter project on the former Live at the Marquee concert site is chosen but when the global financial crisis hit, Howard Holdings’ docklands dream, and then the company itself, came crashing down. It would be 2013 before the council revisits the event centre project.
2009
May: Beamish & Crawford brewery on South Main St closes with the loss of 120 jobs.
2010
Brewery site owners Heineken announce an international competition to select a development partner to regenerate the site. Bam wins with its €150m mixed-use Brewery Quarter project that includes offices, student apartments, and a 6,000-seat concert, events and conference centre. A planning application is lodged in December.
2011
August: Cork City Council grants planning for the Brewery Quarter project – a joint venture between Bam and Heineken. It is hoped that work will start on the events centre first.
2013
April: Cork City Council invites the private sector to pitch for an as yet unspecified amount of public funding to secure the development of an events centre in the city after experts identify ‘market failure’, which confirms the economic case to justify public investment. Councillors are told such a venue would be of enormous economic benefit to the city, generating between €8m to €12m per annum and supporting up to 160 jobs. It later emerges that €12m in public funds is available.
2014
December: Following a protracted tendering process, talks on the preferred bidder go down to the wire and lead to a last-minute increase in available state aid to €20m. Bam, with its Beamish & Crawford site, and O’Callaghan Properties, with its Albert Quay site, are the only two bidders. Bam wins with its bid for €20m of public funding and all financial risk above that level. The total cost of the venue in their bid is estimated to be €50.4m. Bam brings entertainment giant Live Nation on board for the event centre. It will be delivered through their consortium, Susiesfield Development. Bam will build the venue. Live Nation will operate it. The Live Nation group, which includes Ticketmaster and Live Nation Concerts, is one of the biggest live entertainment companies in the world. Its portfolio in Ireland includes the 3Arena, the Bord Gais Energy Theatre, 3Olympia Theatre, and The Gaiety venues, as well as festivals including Longitude and Electric Picnic. Live Nation begins to examine Bam’s event centre design at a detailed operational level, a process that ultimately leads to major design changes and delays.
2015
Bam acquires the South Main St site in full from Heineken, which now withdraws from the Brewery Quarter joint venture.
2016
February: Just weeks before the general election, Taoiseach Enda Kenny turns the sod on the event centre. The public is told demolition will start within weeks, and the venue could be open by 2018.
August: It emerges that detailed internal designs on the event centre are months from completion, and that it won’t open by 2018, as predicted.
September: Demolition work and minor archaeological investigations start on site.
2017
January: Bam restates its commitment to delivering the venue for Cork, and insists the project is still on track.
Early January: The internal design is complete. But the then Housing Minister Simon Coveney concedes that another €10m in state funding will be required.
February 20: Then Bam boss, Theo Cullinane, tells city councillors at a behind-closed-door briefing that following Live Nation’s review of the initial designs, a larger venue is needed to make it commercially viable. He says construction costs have increased to €65m, that an additional €12m of public funding is required, as well as a €6m contingency fund as full detailed design is not complete.
Theo Cullinane
February to September: The city council engages London-based entertainment venue consultants, IMD Group, to carry out a review of the latest designs to ascertain if the operator-driven design plans were the minimum necessary to meet the business plan which formed part of the original bid. The review confirms that much of the cost increases have been driven by the need to run full scale theatre performances similar to those held in the Bord Gais Energy Theatre. These performances are a central part of the business plan submitted with the successful tender. The council also engages KMCS Quantity Surveyors to examine the costings of the new design to establish why a €73.16m cost in March of that year is so significantly higher than the original cost in the 2014 tender. This report shows the cost increase resulted from an 20% increase in venue size, and structural and specification changes driven by the operator.
September: The council applies to the Department of Culture for an extra €10m for the project. The request is subjected to rigorous legal scrutiny.
2018
February: Bam and now Tánaiste Simon Coveney reveal the outline of a funding deal they say has been agreed in principle. Bam says if deal is agreed, building could start in Q3 of that year.
May: Mr Cullinane concedes that timelines outlined in February will not be met. He insists the project will be delivered.
August: Bam lodges a revised planning application with Cork City Council for the new and enlarged venue.
October: Planners request further information, citing concerns about the design of the building. Tánaiste confirms that legal advice from Attorney General on the extra funding request is still not ready.
November: Mr Coveney finally confirms that legal advice clears an increase in state investment in the project from €20m to €30m – comprised of €21m grant aid and a €9m repayable loan.
December: The council questions the terms and conditions attached to the €9m loan element and seeks new legal advice. Tánaiste later confirms that talks on the schedule of payments for the entire €30m are underway.
2019
Simon Coveney
January: The council questions the terms and conditions attached to the €9m loan element and seeks new legal advice. Tánaiste later confirms that talks on the schedule of payments for the entire €30m are underway.
February 12: Third anniversary of the sod turning.
February 28: The Cork Business Association, Irish Hotels Federation Cork, Vintners Federation Cork and Restaurant Association Cork issue a joint statement Simon Coveney calling for “certainty, accountability and meaningful communication” on the project.
March: It emerges that project costs have now hit €85m. An assessment by Mitchel McDermont Construction Consultants says the project is subject to ongoing cost inflation of €450,000 per month, with construction inflation running at 7% per annum.
March 19: RTÉ’s Prime Time focuses on the project. Tánaiste insists the fundamentals of the project are sound. The programme reveals nothing new but infuriates city councillors who are accused of ‘closing ranks’ and not talking to the programme.
Early April: Tánaiste says he has set a new “political timeline” for key decisions and raises hopes of progress on the deadlock before Easter. Martin Fraser, the secretary general to the Government and the Department of the Taoiseach, begins work to resolve the complex issues linked to the delivery of the state funding.
May: The Easter target passes without substantive progress. The Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, admits in an interview with the Irish Examiner that the 2016 sod turning was a mistake, but insists the venue can and will be delivered. Funding talks, and the planning process continues.
October: Council planners grant planning for the revised event centre designs, but the following month, the decision is appealed to An Bórd Pleanála. The state proposes that a fixed amount of public money of provided, and agreement is reached where a maximum grant of €50m is accepted. It is also agreed that the governance of the project will now move from the department of the arts to the department of housing and local government.
2020
January: The council publishes a special voluntary ex-ante transparency notice in the Official Journal of the European Union on January 4 to inform ‘the market’ of proposed changes to the project’s funding agreement, and of its intention to conclude a contract with developers Bam. That notice reveals that state funding will double to some €50m, as a non-repayable grant to Bam and the venue operators, Live Nation.
February: The new funding package faces a High Court legal challenge from Gleneagle Hotel (Killarney) Ltd, the owners of the INEC in Killarney.
March: As covid hits Ireland, An Bórd Pleanála upholds the council decision to grant permission for the revised event centre building. Work is completed on the 420-bed Lee Point student apartment element of Brewery Quarter.
April: As the covid crisis escalates, the legal challenge is withdrawn. With planning and funding now in place, it is thought the final hurdle has been cleared to allow construction start. But as the scale of the global impact of covid emerges, and live entertainment grinds to a halt worldwide, Live Nation’s global revenue stream is decimated, prompting real fears for the future the company. Its focus is on survival, not on spending millions in the development of a venue in Ireland’s second city.
Ann Doherty
June: Mr Coveney insists the project is still viable. “Life will move on from covid-19. We will have concerts again, we will have events again,” he tells the Irish Examiner.
November: Former chief executive of Cork City Council, Ann Doherty, tells councillors that all parties are intent on bringing the funding agreement, which dictates the terms on which government support is granted, to as close a point as possible to where it can be signed off once revenue streams are restored in the global events industry.
2021
As the world learns to live with covid, the event centre project effectively grinds to a complete halt.
October: At the launch of the National Development Plan in Cork, Minister for Public Expenditure, Michael McGrath, tells the Irish Examiner that the €50m in state aid for it is still ring-fenced, and still available.
December: It emerges that detailed design work on the venue has finally begun, with a target completion date of the following autumn. The council advertises a tender for consultants to complete a business case plan for the project, in line with the public spending code requirements. Bam’s €30m restoration of Beamish & Crawford’s landmark Counting House as city centre office space is complete.
2022
February: Cabinet agrees to provide an additional €7m to meet the cost of "construction delays" caused by the covid pandemic, bringing to €57m the total pledged. It mentions an end of year construction start date, and a 2024 completion date.
September: With war in Ukraine raging, fears mount that hyper-inflation could push construction costs even higher and further delay a start date.
October: It emerges that the target dates announced in February will be missed, with detailed design work taking longer than expected.
2023
February: As the seventh anniversary of the sod turning passes, Bam tells the Irish Examiner that it is progressing with detailed design and up-to-date costings and “anticipates being on site in Q3 of 2023”.
July: Documents released under Freedom of Information reveal documents reveal almost €1.5m of public money has been spent on the project – most of it on legal and management consultancy fees.
August: The Irish Examiner reveals that the detailed design has been completed, and that a raft of documents have been submitted to city planners to ensure compliance with planning conditions. The documents show that the design team is completing project pricing and engaging with specialist subcontractors and suppliers in preparation for the construction contract works through to completion.
September: A cost increase is confirmed as Ms Doherty tells councillors that the detailed designs “indicate an increase in the cost of the event centre over previous estimates”.
November: The council finishes its assessment of the detailed designs and costings and prepares a report for the department of housing and local government.
2024
January: Ms Doherty confirms that council has sent its report to the department, which requests additional information, which is supplied some weeks later. The department begins preparing a memo for government. Any decision on additional funding is now a matter for Cabinet.
Micheál Martin
February: Prime Time focuses on the project again, but again, no new information is revealed. Tánaiste Micheál Martin tells the Irish Examiner that the proposed venue has the potential to be a “major catalyst for growth” of business in the city, and says government will look at the “broader picture” while considering any additional funding request. Three councillors force the holding of a special city council meeting to discuss the funding arrangements, branding the project “a €100m Fine Gael vanity project” but councillors vote overwhelmingly in favour of pursuing the project.
September: Mr Martin confirms fresh legal issues, fuelling fears of even more delays. The legal issues are linked to the scale of changes in available state funding.
October: The government announces the retendering of the entire project. Critics brand the whole thing a farce, at this stage.
December: The hugely successful Marina Market in Cork announces that it plans to compete in the tender for the state aid package. It says it has established a team and is working with a leading architectural body to oversee an international competition to design a new 5,000- seat conference space, a 100-bed hotel, and a gallery, focused on its south docklands site, inspired by the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Guggenheim Bilbao.
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