National conference centre to be built by 2007, says O’Donoghue

DUBLIN’S long-awaited national conference centre could be built as early as 2007, according to Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue.

The minister yesterday announced the decision to put construction of a 2,000-seat conference centre in Dublin out to public tender.

Under the plan, the State will lease the building in return for the private sector funding its construction.

One of the main bidders will be Treasury Holdings whose plan to build a similar centre at Spencer Dock foundered three years ago.

The minister described the tendering process as "another important milestone on the road to achieving a national conference centre for Ireland."

The construction of the centre is expected to take around two years and, although no decision has been taken on as to the site, the Custom House Docks area is expected to feature strongly.

Ireland remains the only EU capital not to have such a facility. Several attempts to build one over the past 12 years have all ended in high-profile failures. Some 33 million in EU money was earmarked for the project in 1994.

The most recent attempt at Dublin's Spencer Dock was abandoned in 2000 after ancillary hotel and apartment developments were refused planning permission.

Mr O'Donoghue is the third successive Minister for Tourism in eight years to identify the construction of a national conference centre in Dublin as a priority project. His predecessors Enda Kenny and James McDaid both failed to bring it beyond the planning stage.

Three private consortiums have so far expressed interest in building the new centre which was given the go-ahead by the Cabinet in June.

The Treasury Holdings/Harry Crosbie consortium, whose plan at Spencer Dock was abandoned in 2000, is again one of the main contenders to build the project. Treasury's director of dDevelopment, Robert Pincknell, (spelling correct) said yesterday that the group was "absolutely" committed to putting in a bid.

The chief executive of Dublin Chamber of Commerce chief executive, M, Gina Quinn said that such a centre would be "a milestone on the road to the recovery of Ireland's tourism industry." The Irish Hotels Federation described it as a "major positive development for the economy."

Jim Murphy, president of the Irish Hotels' Federation, said that the conference centre could attract an additional 50,000 visitors to Ireland each year. "This fundamental piece of infrastructure was always viewed as a serious deficiency in Ireland's offering abroad, and it cannot be overstated how important the decision is for the future of the industry."

Dublin Chamber of Commerce has estimated that the city's economy is losing up to 50 million a year, and up to 30,000 visitors annually, by not having such a facility to cater for international gatherings.