Kilkenny’s five-star Lyrath Hotel has just been sold for well over €20m to an Irish consortium of buyers who plan to invest further in the 170-acre resort investment, which was developed at a boom-time cost of €50m.

A second multi-million euro hotel swoop by Chinese buyers has been made on the flood-ravaged Kingsley Hotel in Cork City.

Bidders for the jewel in Cork’s €20m tourism crown came from India, Taiwan, the US, Europe, China, and Cork — with a Chinese family, the Kangs, yesterday coming up trumps.