Pre-tax profits at the Goldman Sachs-backed hotel firm, Tifco Ltd, jumped 36%, to €5.48m, last year.

The Houlihan family, which owns the four-star Clontarf Castle hotel in Dublin, enjoyed a €750,000 dividend from the business in 2013, as profits increased.

Killarney’s 188-bed Quality Hotel which had a price tag of €3 million has been bought by East Cork farming family the Crimmins.