Billionaire JP McManus has spoken for the first time about his "dream" of bringing the prestigious Ryder Cup golf tournament to Limerick.
Mr McManus hopes to beat off stiff competition from across Europe to host the biennial golf match between golf's elite players from Europe and the United States in 2026 at the Adare Manor and Golf Resort which he purchased for around €30 million in 2014.
Mr McManus confirmed Monday that 300 jobs would be created at the five-star Adare Manor following a major revamp of the five-star resort, which is due to be completed in September.
The upgrade, estimated by industry sources to cost at least €50 million, has seen 40 bedrooms added to the hotel in a new wing, bringing the total to 104, as well as the addition of a new ballroom that will have capacity for 350 people available for events and international conferences,
Speaking at the announcement Minister for Jobs, Enterprise, and Innovation, Mary Mitchell-O'Connor, said the revamped Adare Manor would be "a huge boost" for the economy and tourism.
Management said the hotel and golf course was expected to contribute in excess of €15 million per annum to the Limerick economy.
The hotel complex will employ around 350 people when it reopens. Around 120 of the 170 staff then employed took voluntary redundancy when the hotel closed in January 2016 to start the upgrade work.
Up to 670 construction workers have been working on the project and Mr McManus yesterday thanked them for keeping it on schedule to reopen next September.
“I didn’t put a lot of work into it, but a lot of people have. They are anxious to meet the deadlines which should be later in the year,” Mr McManus said. “For me, Adare is a very very special place, and I’m delighted we were in a position that we could do something about it, and it’s got great support from everybody in the county and we’ve got a lot of encouragement.
“I just hope everybody’s expectations will be met,” added Mr McManus.
Speaking about the Ryder Cup, Mr McManus said: “The Ryder cup is a very, very big ask and, like every other golf club in Ireland, we’d be delighted to host the Ryder Cup, but it’s one of [my] long-standing term dreams.
“The soonest possible time [to host it] would be 2026, if you’re ever going to get it. But, there’s an awful lot of tough competition from within Europe and Britain, and I’m sure, from the rest of Ireland.
“I do believe we have the facilities and an area and a venue that can cater for it.”
Mr McManus said the revamped Manor and adjoining 18-hole championship golf course promise to make it a world-class venue.
“Hopefully so...You start off with that plan, and as I said, hopefully it will meet everybody’s expectations,”
Minister of State, Sport and Tourism, Patrick O’Donovan said the revamped Adare Manor resort “will play a very significant role in terms of the marketability of Ireland, especially in North America, where over a million people visited Ireland last year between the US and Canada”.
Seventy per cent of Adare Manor’s annual business comes from the North American marketplace, a spokesperson said.
“We want to grow that market, and that’s why new [transatlantic] routes Shannon and Dublin, and even Cork now with a transatlantic route, is going to play a major role in the development of tourism,” added Minister O’Donovan.