FIANNA FÁIL finance spokesperson Michael McGrath has hit out at the “debacle” unfolding around Cork’s long-awaited event centre.
He called for “straight answers” regarding the stalled development after a potential shortfall of €10.5m was reported in the Evening Echo this week.
“Like the vast majority of people in Cork, my sole interest in this is to see the event centre project proceed because I recognise how significant this project is for Cork city and county. An enormous amount of work has been put into the project so far and we all want to see cranes on the site building this event centre without any more delay,” he said.
“We now learn from Minister Simon Coveney that more public money may be needed to get this project moving. It begs the obvious question as to why the sod was turned last year given that no contracts whatsoever were in place and everything was clearly not nailed down.”
Deputy McGrath expressed concern that a shortfall of money was not announced as a reason for the delays sooner — some €20m of public funds were allocated to the project two years ago.
“The repeated reassurances we have been given in the past twelve months that all was in order and the project was about to advance have now been completely discredited,” said Deputy McGrath.
“I note that BAM is due to present to the City Council the week after next. The full story about why the events centre hasn’t happened and what exactly is needed to make it happen must be laid bare so that a proper assessment can be done. The people of Cork deserve no less given the repeated assurances they have been given that all was going according to plan.”
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