The Government is being encouraged to give potential hotel operators across Clare the “confidence” to take on a tourism accommodation venture.
An update from Fáilte Ireland at this week’s meeting of Clare County Council’s Tourism Strategic Policy Committee has revealed there are now 60% fewer contracted beds in the county than there were three years ago.
Revitalising the tourism accommodation sector was a prominent topic of discussion at the meeting held in one of the jewels of Clare’s tourism crown – Bunratty Folk Park.
Lisdoonvarna Fine Gael Councillor Joe Garrihy, who’s long called for communities here that have hosted a high proportion of refugees to receive State support, proposed developing a plan for the “restoration and optimisation of tourism accommodation capacity” in the county.
At its peak in 2023 and 2024, more than 30% of tourism beds in Clare were contracted to the Government for the purpose of housing Ukrainian refugees or International Protection Applicants.
New Fáilte Ireland data reveals this has now fallen to just 11%, which remains above the national average of 5%, but is down by roughly 60% in the space of three years.
Councillor Garrihy claims individuals who have “made a lot of money” from providing accommodation to refugees have a responsibility to contribute to the recovery of their communities.
At the end of March, the Ukrainian accommodation centres in the Bunratty Castle Hotel and Hotel Woodstock in Ennis were closed.
Recently, John Burke and Gerry Quinn of the Fiddle + Bow Collection acquired the Hydro Hotel in Lisdoonvarna, which has long been used to house Ukrainian refugees, with the intention of bringing it back into the tourism market.
Additionally, it’s understood that the Auburn Lodge in Ennis will soon transition back to tourism.
Chairperson of the Tourism SPC, Ennistymon Fianna Fáil Councillor Shane Talty says others with ambitions to run a hotel here should be given a helping hand.
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*Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
