Ireland’s largest hotel operator, Dalata, will have spent up to €90m on Cork city hotels by next year, spanning purchases, upgrades and completion of its Beasley St hotel site off Cork’s South Mall and Parnell Place (pictured) where a €10.2m purchase from Nama has finally just completed.

The Dalata Hotel Group has continued its expansion drive by spending €40m on acquiring operatorship status in four hotels.

Ireland’s largest hotel group, Dalata, is interested in adding the Clarion Hotel in Sligo to its portfolio.

Cork’s Clarion Hotel has been acquired by the Dalata Hotel Group for €35.1m in a cash deal expected to be concluded before the end of this month.

The Castlemartyr Resort in Cork has been acquired for close to €14m by British businessman and hotelier Martin Shaw, who also owns a significant golf resort called Old Thorns Manor House in Hampshire, near London.

The Dalata Hotel Group is considering a possible purchase of Cork’s Clarion Hotel, which is currently on the market with a €30m price tag.

With a price tag of €30m-plus, Cork City’s Clarion Hotel is the most valuable Irish hotel outside of Dublin to come to the open market since the economic downturn.

Linking Ireland’s ever- expanding blue economy to established industry can unlock significant potential for further growth, according to the head of the Marine Institute. Huge scope exists for established companies in the areas of pharmaceuticals, medical-technical, information and communications technology and software to identify niche opportunities in the ocean economy, chief executive Peter Heffernan said.

Over 13,000 carats of gems are being donated to the National Museum by a Cork-based diamond and gem broker.

A man accused of clocking up thousands of euro in unpaid hotel bills in Cork City has been remanded in custody as details of his identity need to be checked through Interpol.

Limerick’s Savoy Hotel, Killarney’s Malton, Kilkenny’s Ormonde Hotel and now Cork’s Metropole Hotel are set to boost the end of year hotel sales tally to about €350 million.

Brian McCarthy Contractors Ltd yesterday became the latest high-profile victim of the building crash after confirming that it has ceased trading.

THE five-star Muckross Park Hotel and spa in Killarney, owned by Apprentice stars Bill Cullen and Jackie Lavin, has undergone a change in management, with Choice Hotels, developers of the Clarion brand appointed as business consultants.

NAMA is to introduce a deferred payments scheme in an effort to kick-start the property market as it yesterday released details of 847 properties that are in receivership or administration.

THE National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) has appointed Kieran Wallace of KPMG as statutory receiver over seven properties which operate as hotels and will continue to trade as normal, KPMG disclosed yesterday.

THE loss-making property development group, co-owned by former Irish rugby team manager, Pat Whelan, is in discussions with the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) about preparing a business plan for the future support of the group.

HOTEL managers, business chiefs and politicians jetted into London yesterday with the aim of bringing millions of euro worth of business to Cork.

Parenting author and TV presenter David Coleman will hold a series of free parenting meetings around the country within the next five weeks.

GENERAL manager of Cork’s Clarion Hotel, Charlie Sheil, is taking the top post as GM of the new Gibson Hotel at the Point Village in Dublin this month, ahead of its scheduled June opening.

A NUMBER of Cork city’s major hotels and guesthouses had to close or turn customers away as a result of last week’s floods.

A TOP hotel has been named Cork business of the year for its high level of service and for creating vibrancy in the city’s docklands area.

THE Clarion Hotel in Cork has become the only hotel in the country to win a major European excellence award.

THE Clarion Hotel’s excellent service and the vibrancy it created as the first anchor tenant in Cork’s City Quarter development have been recognised with an award.

Minor scuffles broke out today as a handful of current and former Waterford Crystal workers brought protests over the iconic firm’s threatened closure to Dublin.

Two members of the Wedgwood family are mulling over a bid for the ceramics business which bears their famous name.

Angry workers at the threatened Waterford Crystal factory dug their heels in tonight with a bitter attack on critics as they vowed to continue a sit-in for a fourth night.

Two members of the Wedgwood family said today they were considering a bid for the ceramics business which bears their famous name.

Workers at Waterford Crystal are supporting a bid for the company made by Clarion Capital.

China and crystal maker Waterford Wedgwood has received a “substantial” rescue bid from a US private equity firm, it was reported today.

Hundreds of workers are set to spend a fourth day occupying the Waterford Crystal factory in the hope that a bid from a second US-based consortium could save hundreds of jobs.

Trade union chiefs will hold talks today with a US-based investment group lining up a potential rescue offer for troubled Waterford Crystal.

TRADE UNION chiefs will hold talks today with a US-based investment group lining up a potential rescue offer for troubled Waterford Crystal.

Trade union chiefs will hold talks tomorrow with a US-based investment group lining up a potential rescue offer for troubled Waterford Crystal.

SEAN LALLY, managing partner of the Clarion in Limerick, has been elected president of Limerick Chamber.

A WELL-KNOWN Dublin hotel had visitors doing a double take this week as they were met with the sight of a Christmas tree in the lobby, staff handing out mince pies and other festive frolics.

DO YOU ever wish you could just hop to America and buy clothes for half the price?

CHOICE Hotels Ireland is to run the €100 million four-star Clarion hotel in Dublin’s Point Village.

THE memories of summer may still be fresh in the mind — and Christmas may be the last thing people want to think about right now — but tour operators are already getting ready for the Lapland winter snow.

CHOICE Hotels Ireland has appointed Brendan Curtis chief operating officer across the group, including the Clarion, Quality and Comfort Inn brands.

The Clarion Hotel Group is set to open a second premises in Limerick following a €20m investment.

Tommy Barker reports on the booming City of Culture with lots of developments to come.