Shareholders in the luxury Clontarf Castle hotel have invested €35 million in the new four-star Crowne Plaza hotel less than two miles from Dublin Airport.
Billed as a much-needed boost to Ireland's flagging tourist industry, it received a visit yesterday from the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to mark its development.
The hotel, franchised to the British-based Intercontinental group that recently decoupled from the Six Continents leisure conglomerate, is expected to create 150 jobs in north Dublin when it opens at the end of the year.
Its 204 bedrooms will compete with the two other airport hotels, the Great Southern and the Holiday Inn.
Dublin's hotel sector is set for a further shake-up, with another six planning applications for large-scale hotels near the airport lodged with Fingal County Council in the last two weeks.
One applicant is the Spanish-owned Golden Tulip group, which has requested permission to construct a 157-bedroom hotel near the airport. Industry sources attribute the flurry of planning applications to last year's record 15.1 million passengers travelling through Dublin Airport.
The selling point for the Crowne Plaza will be its luxury four-star status and its proximity to the airport.
Business travellers increasingly want to hold their meetings as close to the airport as possible given problems with infrastructure.
The scope for hotel provision in the area was highlighted by the inclusion of two hotels in Ryanair's plans for the second terminal.
Mr Enda O'Meara, manager of the Clontarf Castle hotel, said: "We are confident that our proximity to the M50, the hotel's quite parkland setting and the luxury facilities will prove very attractive."
