VIDEO: Taoiseach and Tánaiste unveil two strategic schemes in Cork

You wait years for the regeneration of strategic but derelict city sites — then two sod turnings on schemes worth some €100m come along on the same day.

Just two weeks out from a general election, and after criticism earlier this week that it was nothing more than an election stunt, Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Joan Burton swept in to Cork City yesterday to formally launch the city’s long-awaited and much anticipated 6,000-seat events centre — one of two strategic investment projects showcased yesterday.

While demolition work is already under way on the John Cleary Developments regeneration of the former Capitol cinema site on the Grand Parade — a site which has lain vacant for a decade — there was an air of scepticism around the events centre project on South Main St, amid concerns that final contracts had not yet been signed.