Event Centre FOI request refused

A Labour Party candidate for the local elections has been denied access to 219 pages of documents relating to funding for the Event Centre following an FOI request.

Artist impression of the Event Centre on South Main Street.

In yet another footnote to the infamous Event Centre, a freedom of information request by Labour Party representative Peter Horgan for hundreds of pages of documents pertaining to the unbuilt concert venue in the city centre has been refused.

Earlier this year the City Council, as well as the majority of Cork City Councillors, sounded ever more bullish on the blighted Event Center eight years on from when the first sod was turned by former Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach of the time Enda Kenny flanked by a beaming Simon Coveney.

Since then, the only action for the 6,000-seater concert venue has been on paper, but requests by the Labour Party to shed more light on that paperwork, especially around funding of the Event Centre, will remain kept under wraps.

In his request to the Deptartment of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Mr Horgan asked for “all documents in the Department received by the Minister and senior officials from Cork City Council and any outside entities relating to the funding of the Cork Event Centre for the period 9th January 2024 to 27^th February 2024.”

However, the Department ultimately decided that because the funding negotiations are in a critical phase releasing information could “potentially prejudice a competitive position and or result in material financial loss to the state and or the consortium.”

The refusal letter to Mr Horgan continued, “Furthermore, I have also concluded that the public interest would not be best served  by the release of records relating to the ongoing deliberative processes described  above, or the release of records containing information that would prejudice the  commercial and competitive position of the parties involved in the conduct of their business.”

In an emailed statement, Mr Horgan, a prolific FOI requester who has been at the forefront of campaigning for transparency across local and central government called the documents “crucial and critical” and said they must be released.

“It is vital that we have full and open transparency on this project. People want it to succeed but the runaway costs incurred to date and supposedly about to be pledged demand greater public scrutiny. It should not be decided behind closed doors.”

“It’s the people’s money. One of these documents is the final cost benefit analysis. That has to be released.”

In his letter to Mr Horgan, the civil servant who made the decision to deny access, said he “expects that a decision on the Event Centre could be made in Q1 or early in Q2 of 2024 but this is ultimately a matter for Government.”

Ann Doherty, Cork City Council boss since 2014, told The Echo last year that she expected the contentious Event Centre to be up and running by 2026.

Were central government to refuse to cough up the extra funding it would be a huge embarrassment and failure for Cork City Council.

As Prime Time reported earlier this year, the Government has previously said it would give €57million in funding to the centre, which when opened will be owned and run by concert promotor Live Nation.

Mr Horgan has the right of appeal, an option Cork City Council likely won’t have if funding is shot down.