Three firms bid for conference centre contract

Three groups, including long-time bidder Treasury Holdings, are set to enter the competition for the contract to build the National Conference Centre, The Irish Times has learned.

Along with Treasury Holdings, which is proposing to build it at Spencer Dock in Dublin, the Government has also shortlisted a consortium led by Bennett Construction, and a group headed by another building firm, Michael McNamara.

The Bennett group, known as the Anna Livia Consortium, is proposing to build the centre at a site close to the Point Depot and Port Tunnel in Dublin's docklands. The land is owned by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, which is backing the plan.

The McNamara proposal is for land owned by the racing authority, Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), adjacent to the Carrickmines end of Leopardstown racecourse.

The Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism wrote to all three consortia this week informing them that they had reached the pre-qualification stage of the tendering process.

A fourth proposal, involving land owned by Dublin City University (DCU), will not go forward to this stage. Reports last month indicated that only two might pre-qualify for the competition, but the letters written to all three groups make it clear that there are two others still in the process.

The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr John O'Donoghue, advertised for expressions of interest in the project last November. The advertisement, which was carried in the official journals of the State and the EU, specified that it had to be built in Dublin on land owned either privately or by the State.

Late last month, Mr O'Donoghue told the Dáil that he hoped to make a decision on the tender by the end of this year. He had originally intended to be in a position to do that by the autumn. He was said to believe that the centre could be completed and operating by the end of 2007.

The Government still backs the conference centre because it believes it could generate between €25 million and €50 million a year in extra tourism revenues, and increase the number of conference visitors to the State to 150,000 from 120,000.

The Department will send detailed criteria to the three groups after August. These will determine the scale of the development. The detail of what all three are proposing will not be known until after they have responded to this.

The Mr Richard Barrett and Mr John Ronan-controlled Treasury Holdings had a plan for Spencer Dock rejected by An Bórd Pleanála four years ago. A spokesman said the group still had planning permission for a conference centre.

The Anna Livia consortium's proposed site is closer to the entrance to Dublin docks, and is also close to the site of new pedestrian and traffic bridges proposed for the river.