Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, has today expressed frustration that the retendering process for the Cork Events Centre is expected to take 12 to 18 months.

Teachta Gould said:

“The Minister has now confirmed to me that the retendering process will take 12-18 months for the Events Centre. This project was first announced in 2014. A decade later and it would appear no lessons have been learned. It is not clear whether this tender will have any protections in place to prevent further delays and increasing costs.

“We cannot forget that Fine Gael, with the support of Fianna Fáil, have already spent over €1.5million on this project. That is more money gone to waste under this government. They have no respect for taxpayers’ hard-earned money and they see nothing wrong with this.

“There is no clear indication that this time will be any different. Fine Gael are genuinely now retendering on a project that they turned the sod ahead of the 2016 General Election. It was supposed to be completed by 2018. That is just embarrassing.

“Describing an 18 month retendering process, with no lessons learned, as the only surefooted way to move forward on the project is a joke. The only surefooted way to move forward on this, and on the many other projects Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil waste your money on but don’t deliver, is a change of government.”