€100m Center Parcs holiday resort for Midlands

One of the UK’s biggest holiday firms is looking to corner the market on Irish staycations, by opening a multi-million euro holiday complex in the Midlands.

In what is to be the biggest ever tourism plan for the region, Center Parcs is to officially announce plans for the €100m development today.

It is understood the company has been negotiating a plan with Coillte, the State forestry board, which will see the building of a main complex and a village of more than 200 lodges and villas in in Ballymahon, Co Longford. It has also been in talks with Longford Co Council CEO Tim Caffrey, and intends to lease hundreds of acres of mature and semi-mature forestry.