Castletownbere to benefit from jobs boost bonanza

OVER €60 million is being spent on constructing the first hotel in this country designed for six-star luxury.

Work has started on refurbishing the former Dunboy Castle Hotel in Castletownbere, Co Cork, and it is expected to be open to the public in June 2007.

About 200 people will be employed during the development, which is one of the largest restoration projects ever carried out in Ireland.

The hotel will have 110 staff, bringing a huge jobs boost to an area that is suffering from a downturn in traditional industries such as fishing and farming.

A spokesperson for the developers, Resort Hotel Developments, said original plans for the Puxley Mansion have been obtained from the National Archives and will be copied as closely as possible.

The hotel will feature 72 ocean-facing suites, each larger in size than the average two-bedroom apartment. Set in 40 acres of wooded parkland, the hotel will be operated by West Paces Hotel Group and headed by Horst Schulze who ran the Ritz Carlton Hotel Group for many years.

In addition to huge rooms, there will be a world-class restaurant, luxury spa, bars - including a cellar wine vault - meeting rooms and swimming pool, all of which will overlook scenic Bantry Bay.

“One of the main things which will mark this hotel out will be its level of service. There will be a full 24-hour concierge for each resident,” the spokesperson said.

Currently, hotel authorities in Ireland will only grade hotels to five-star status, but it is hoped this system will eventually change, allowing the hotel to be recognised as six-star.

No doubt the developers will be hoping the adjoining buildings have a luckier future than their past. They have been blown up twice and set on fire.

The castle has a colourful history. In 1549, its owner, Dermot O’Sullivan Bere, accidently blew it up, along with himself.

In 1602, it was besieged by a 4,000-strong army led by Sir George Carew. For 11 days, 143 members of Donal (Cam) O’Sullivan Bere’s clan held out. But when the castle was taken, all of them were slaughtered and it was again blow up.

In 1730, the Puxley family were granted the lands and began to build a mansion next to the old castle. The developers intend renovating both buildings and connecting them with a glazed bridge.

The mansion was torched by the Old IRA during the Troubles in 1921.