New owners of Cork city’s Metropole Hotel are the Philips Hotel Group, who acquired the Cork International Airport Hotel, for c €5m, back in 2012.

More than half a billion euro was spent on hotel acquisitions in the first quarter of the year in the largest quarterly spree ever seen.

Des O’Sullivan looks ahead to a jam-packed, varied and hugely anticipated sale in Limerick this weekend.

Cork, Kerry and Limerick hotels are among a portfolio of seven profitably trading Irish hotels being sold as a bundle, or individually, by Nama in the so-called Crystal Portfolio, valued all-in at €35m and totalling over 830 beds.

Des O’Sullivan says the two-day National Antiques Fair in Limerick next weekend will have dozens of stand.

Little did they realise when they set up a mortgage for their €270k three-bed semi seven years ago that they could be heading for a legal battle for the very driveways to their homes.

A hepatitis C support group whose funding has been pulled spent almost €13,000 of public funds on a pampering and relaxation weekend despite being instructed not to do so, according to the Health Service Executive.

100 dealers will sell collectibles such as furniture, art and glass at 80 stands in South Court Hotel, says Des O’Sullivan.

Fearing angry clashes at the FG annual conference in Limerick next weekend, gardaí have drawn up a major security plan and the South Court Hotel venue in Raheen will be a no-go area for non-delegates.

A RECEIVER has been appointed to the Lynch Group’s flagship and longest established hotel, the West County Hotel in Ennis.

A HIGH Court judge has confirmed the appointment of an examiner to the Lynch Hotel group, Ireland’s largest family-run hotel group.

A SICKNESS which struck up to 250 students at a Limerick college has been narrowed down to the winter vomiting bug.

MORE than 250 college students have been stricken with suspected food poisoning after attending their annual ball.

MORE and more farmers are making off-farm investments, according to business consultants Farrelly and Mitchell.

PARENTS can avoid sending their children to bad child-minders or nurseries if they are not in a hurry to find a place for their child, according to a leading childcare expert.

TRAVEL operator USIT has gone on the road to promote a programme offering seasonal work visas of up to 10 months’ in the US.