Latest news with #Donegal-born
Irish Times
05-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Harcourt hotel group bookings triple for British Open in Antrim following McIlroy's Masters win
Harcourt Developments, a hotel group founded by Donegal-born developer Pat Doherty, is seeing the benefits of 'McIlroymania' already with a 'threefold increase' in bookings for the British Open golf championship at Royal Portrush in Co Antrim in the two weeks after the Irish golfer's US Masters win. The Open takes place between July 17th and July 20th. 'In the two weeks after Rory had achieved his great success we saw a three-fold increase in bookings‚' said the hotel group's chief operating officer Clement Gaffney. While the group's Redcastle Hotel had an existing corporate booking for all of its rooms he said there was a surge in bookings at its other hotels in Ulster. ' Rory has shone great light on Ulster, and on the Open, which benefits the entire region. It has been fantastic, it has been very positive since Rory won.' Even before the McIlroy's successes the Harcourt Collection of hotels had a 'buoyant start to the year', seeing group revenues rise by 10 per cent in the first quarter of 2025 over the same period last year. READ MORE The group's Ulster-based properties Lough Eske Castle, Redcastle Hotel and Spa, and Titanic Hotel Belfast, have been 'standout performers', the company said with 16 per cent revenue growth year-on-year in the first three months of the year. 100 days of Trump: 'It's like The Karate Kid, tax on, tax off, tariffs on, tariffs off' Listen | 42:49 Hospitality industry groups have recently questioned tourism figures released by the Central Statistics office (CSO) showing significant reductions in spending and tourists in Ireland, with industry chiefs set to meet with the national statistics office on the matter. 'I've been following it with great interest,' the Harcourt chief operating officer said, but noted their hotels hadn't seen any reductions in visitors to their properties. Instead, he said, 'our hotels, our bed nights, our revenue, our rooms occupied, our occupancy, and rates, they have all shown very stable extended growth'. Despite concerns that the number of tourists coming to Ireland could be affected by US tariffs and global economic uncertainty, Mr Gaffney said the hotel group was 'not seeing a drop-off in the number of US tourists coming to Ireland', with North American guests expected to account for more than 60 per cent of stays during the summer. Instead, they are 'seeing very nice steady growth – recent growth - in Canadian business at our Caribbean property', Carlisle Bay in Antigua, as the country's tourism to its southern neighbour cools. The group recently announced a planned €5 million upgrade of its five-star Lough Eske Castle hotel in Co Donegal which grew its room count by 28 per cent. This investment, Mr Gaffney said, has returned a 23 per cent growth in revenue for the hotel in the first quarter. There is more investment to come, Mr Gaffney said, with Harcourt Developments set to commence construction of a 155-bed four star hotel in Liverpool and are looking at 'further development opportunities' in Belfast near their existing Titanic Hotel. He said the Titanic Hotel in Belfast was 'trading at a very high occupancy on a consistent basis, which is a great achievement. What we want to do now is unlock further development in Belfast to capitalise and build on that'.
Irish Independent
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
‘Ireland's version of the Amazon' – no celebrities required for new documentary on Kerry's natural beauty
The Donegal-born marine biologist, zoologist and coastal guide admits he is a reluctant voice on camera, but director Katrina Costello was persuasive. Mr McGinley is one of a number of west-coast-based scientists that appear in Ms Costello's new documentary on Kerry's natural history, the first episode of which is broadcast on RTÉ One tonight. Entitled Kerry: Tides of Time and narrated by the actor Brendan Gleeson, the two-part series aims to tell a 'rich and multi-dimensional story of the Kerry landscape, from its earliest origins, deep in the geological past, right up to the present day'. It draws on local expertise, rather than parachuting in celebrities, and contributors include Connemara archaeologist Michael Gibbons, environmentalist Mary Reynolds, botanist Dr Therese Higgins, and author and Skellig Michael guide Catherine Merrigan. Sheep farmer Seanie O'Donohue, ecologist Susan O'Donoghue, archaeologist Billy Mag Fhloinn and Barry O'Donoghue, resident of the Stack's Mountain townland, also participate. Based in Corca Dhuibhne, Billy Mag Fhloinn is married to singer Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, who is the vocalist on the musical score composed by Bradley Ayres. The summit of Ireland's highest mountain, Carrauntoohil and the tetrapod tracks on Valentia Island, Co Kerry, are among locations that Mr McGinley shares his knowledge of. He says it is 'not impossible' that we are all descended from this marine creature – the four-footed, mammal-like reptile that evolved before the rise of the dinosaur and left its footprints on Kerry rock about 385 million years ago. 'A wild thing to take on board,' Mr McGinley says. For Carrauntoohil, the team was lucky to have a clear day for filming, even if it was one of the coldest of last year. ADVERTISEMENT A 'ragged and complex landscape evolving from 400 million-year-old rocks' is explored by archaeologist Michael Gibbons. He explains that the environmental damage done by Bronze Age peoples helped to create the bogs that are now a valuable carbon sink. The bogs and rivers are 'Ireland's Amazon', Mr O'Donoghue says, speaking of his passion for hen harriers, numbers of which are declining. Mary Reynolds is particularly critical of the extensive acreage of fast-growing spruce in Kerry, and the damage done in cutting drains in bogs that releases all the carbon, while also spraying chemicals and planting right up against streams. 'Spruce doesn't hold carbon the way an old oak would,' she says. She believes Kerry is a potential 'flagship' landscape for the return of native species. 'If we could restore a massive amount of woodlands, there is hope…how much joy would that bring into our lives,' Ms Reynolds says. Ms Costello, of Silver Branch films, had worked with some of the contributors on her previous two-part documentary, The Burren: Heart of Stone, also narrated by Brendan Gleeson. The camerawoman, director and producer, who specialises in cultural and natural history, has worked with director of photography John Brown since 2011. Her documentaries have won a number of international awards. Living in Clare, she said she was delighted to secure a commission from RTÉ for her own interpretation of Kerry, heading there in her Hymer campervan and contacting experts who had personal connections to the landscape. Inevitably, such is the passion these people have for the area that the focus is 'more political', she notes, and her contributors took her outside of national park areas to remote rainforests, lakes and little-known hillscapes. 'It was filmed over several summers, and last summer was particularly challenging as we were lucky to get a day where we had four hours without rain,' she says. Kerry: Tides of Time, narrated by Brendan Gleeson, will be broadcast on RTÉ One tonight and next Sunday at 6.30pm
Irish Examiner
25-04-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Wannabe Royal sparks Browne McMonagle treble at Limerick
Placed in her three previous starts, the Joseph O'Brien-trained Wannabe Royal impressed when making all to take the seven-furlong Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Maiden, sparking a treble for her trainer and stable jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle, in Limerick. Sent straight into the lead by Browne McMonagle, the Wootton Bassett filly dictated things, skipped clear early in the straight and romped home six lengths clear of Indigo Dream. 'Dylan kept it simple,' said O'Brien's representative Michael Halford. 'She showed early pace and hit the line strong. She's a forward-goer and was entitled to win her maiden like that. She'll go another furlong and I'm sure the aim will be to get black type." The Donegal-born rider produced a tactical masterclass when completing a stable double on board well-backed Evening Blossom, wearing a first-time tongue-tie, in the Great National South Coast Handicap, dictating a steady pace and, ultimately, finding enough to beat favourite Fort Vega by a half-length. 'She's a grand straight-forward, tough filly, with a great temperament,' said the winning rider. 'She got tired the last day and came forward well. She wasn't in love with the ground but coped and, hopefully, she'll keep improving through the ranks." Browne McMonagle had to work hard to deliver the O'Brien treble, using all his strength to bring 6-5 favourite Out For A Stroll with a sustained late challenge to foil Slieve Bearnagh in the D & E Behan Handicap. 'She's lazy but tough and kept finding for pressure,' said the rider. 'It's great to get her head in front on the Flat and she should improve.' The Carriganog combination had been expected to score earlier with Hostility in the Irish Stallion farms EBF Maiden. But the 11-10 favourite lost out by a half-length to Paddy Twomey's Admiral Churchill, enterprisingly ridden by Billy Lee. 'He likes these tracks and looks a bit intimidated when he ran at the Curragh,' explained Twomey. 'His owner is based in Yorkshire and we might bring this fellow to the Dante meeting, for a seven-furlong three-year-old handicap.' Bay Colony, third in the Naas maiden in which Wannabe Royal was second last time, further boosted the form when, stepping-up in trip, she battled well to take the 11-furlong fillies maiden for Fozzy Stack and Seamus Heffernan. Three jockeys were in trouble with the Limerick stewards, Ronan Whelan (five days) and Declan McDonogh (four days) receiving whip bans while Shane Foley was handed a two-day careless riding ban. In Kilbeggan, Henry de Bromhead received a significant pre-Punchestown boost, registering a tremendous treble. Darragh O'Keeffe partnered top-weight and handicap debutante Magic Day to land the SIS Mares Handicap Hurdle and delivered the last leg when 16-1 shot Freddie Robdal proved a shock winner of the SIS-sponsored Handicap Chase. And Rachael Blackmore provided the middle leg of the Knockeen haul, on board odds-on favourite Look To The West, who proved too strong for Gaoth Chuil in the mares' beginners chase.
