IMI decision a blow to Killarney

THE Irish Management Institute has pulled out of Killarney for this year’s annual conference.

The loss will be a blow to the town which previously got a cash injection of up to €500,000 from the three-day event with up to 800 people attending the event.

Great Southern, Killarney, general manager Conor Hennigan, said he hoped the IMI would be back in Killarney in 2006 for its 50th anniversary. An IMI spokesman said it had an open mind on the issue but said the move to the Marriott Hotel in Druids Glen, Co Wicklow, was in response to members’ needs.