Jim McDaid (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Coghlan for raising this issue. The Great Southern Hotels Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aer Rianta CPT. The group currently employs the equivalent of 750 full-time staff and owns nine hotels, five of which are located in prime tourist destinations. A new Great Southern Hotel adjacent to Cork Airport opened last year and fulfils the group's objective of having a hotel at each of the main tourist gateways. The company also has a minority interest and a management contract in the four-star City Hotel in Derry.

The slowdown in the world economy, the foot and mouth disease crisis in the UK and the impact of the events of 11 September combined to make last year an arduous one in the Irish hotel sector. The Great Southern Hotels Group was also affected and recorded a 34% drop in profits from €4.8 million in 2000 to €3.2 million in 2001. Retention of market share and cost containment were the group's main focus this year in order to position it for the expected recovery next year.

The Killarney Great Southern Hotel will celebrate its 150th birthday in 2004. I understand from Aer Rianta that an examination of the two Great Southern Hotels in Killarney in 2000 concluded that extensive renovations and refurbishment were required to be carried out in both hotels if they were to continue in business, particularly with regard to meeting the new fire regulations and safety requirements. The board of Great Southern Hotels decided in early 2000 to carry out a full restoration of the old Killarney hotel at a cost of €15 million and to keep the other hotel, the Torc, open while this was being carried out and to review its position when this project had been completed. The financing for the restoration of the old Killarney hotel was to come from the sale of surplus assets in the group. The objective of re-establishing the old hotel as Killarney's leading hotel has been achieved and the hotel was reopened in the middle of the year to resume its year-round operation.