The Office of Public Works (OPW) will develop the Digital Hub at a cost to the Exchequer of between €150-€200 million, a Dáil committee heard yesterday.
Philip Flynn, chief executive of the Digital Hub Development Agency (DHDA), said the decision to get the OPW to develop the digital media project was taken when discussions with a private developer broke down.
He said that negotiations with Manor Park Homes, the preferred bidder for the project, broke down when the developer said it wanted the flexibility to locate non-digital media firms on the site.
The development will now be overseen by a steering committee, comprising members of the DHDA, OPW and officials from the Department of Communications.
This group is being chaired by the Minister for Communications, Noel Dempsey.
The Digital Hub was an ambitious project backed by the Taoiseach to develop a cluster of digital media firms on a nine-acre site in the Liberties to help to regenerate that area of Dublin.
The plan was conceived in 1999 and is underway with 49 firms employing 450 people working on two acres of the nine-acre site. However, the development of the final seven acres is now severely delayed due to the failure of the DHDA to agree a public private partnership with a developer.
The chairman of the DHDA, William Burgess, said the body could not recommend the development proposal by Manor Park Homes because it did not offer value for money.
Asked about the failure of MediaLab Europe, he said the concept of having a digital research centre at the Digital hub was of extreme importance.
Meanwhile, Mr Flynn told the committee that the Digital Hub should be completed by 2012 and would at that stage host 250 companies employing at least 3,000.
He said the OPW would develop the site on a phased basis rather than seek to develop the site in one process. The steering group is working on an area framework plan to decide how each section of the site would be divided, he said.
Mr Flynn confirmed that the Government has so far spent €54 million on acquiring property for the Digital Hub and that the cost of developing the remaining six acre site is €150 -€200 million.
