Call for emergency meeting on tender for Cork events centre

An independent councillor has called for an emergency council meeting to discuss the new tendering process designed to secure the development of a €50m events centre in Cork.

Cllr Kieran McCarthy branded it a “disgrace” that councillors have been left completely out of the loop on a decision to commit €4m of Cork City Council money to the project.

“Up to now, tentative figures have been bounced around but nothing set in stone,” he said.

“But now on the new tender document a figure is set. No-one has approached the elected members of council to tell us this in person.

“I have had to read it in the press. As an elected member, this is a disgrace.

“One of our powers is to control and debate value for money for the council’s expenditure.”

He has now called on Lord Mayor Cllr Mary Shields to convene a special council meeting to thrash the issues out.

City Hall confirmed the establishment of a new process last Friday to secure the development of an events centre in the city.

It follows the collapse of the first tendering process prompted by the last-minute withdrawal of potential operators Live Nation, who cited concerns over funding agreements and penalty clauses.

Two developers, Owen O’Callaghan and BAM/Heineken Ireland, both of which have planning permission for an events centre in Cork, had been in talks with Live Nation as they vied for a €10m government investment and up to €6m in city council funding. However, the new tender process contains confirmation from City Hall for the first time that it was willing to invest €4m of public money in to the project.

Mr McCarthy said he was surprised by the announcement.

“I welcome the new tendering process for the event centre,” he said.

“The centre is a key piece of infrastructure that this city needs.

“However, no discussion has taken place with councillors on the new tendering process, despite pleas for information over the last few weeks.”

He said given that the city has announced a figure, councillors now had a significant say in the choice of site.

“The event centre does not need to become a political football, which, make no mistake about it, it is about to become,” he said.

“The new tendering process demands a transparent process where all sides, councillors, City Hall officials, the external review committee and the proposed developers all know the parameters of the new process.

“The whole process will unravel again closer to decision time again if parameters are not set now.”

City Hall has described the new process as the “second phase” of a tender process, moving from a competitive dialogue to a competitive negotiation tendering procedure.

“We continue to have a robust process in place to deal with this part of the procedure and having assessed where we are, we believe we can achieve a positive result by engaging in the negotiated tender phase,” the Lord Mayor said.

The tender criteria have changed substantially since the failed first process.

Crucially, potential developers do need to have an operator on board at this stage.

It is hoped the preferred tenderer and chosen site will be announced in November or December.