Efforts under way to bring new hotels to Longford, council hears

Longford County Council is looking at potential hotel opportunities in both Longford town centre and surrounding rural towns, a recent meeting of representatives has heard.

The revelation came amid calls for a hotel to be developed in Lanesboro. Councillor Mark Casey submitted the motion in which he called on the county council to reach out to hoteliers across the country in a bid to persuade them to consider developing a hotel in Lanesboro town.

The councillor pointed out that Lanesboro had seen a significant increase in visitors in recent years due to the success of a number of local events, in addition to the substantial number visiting nearby Center Parcs, estimated to be over 200,000 people.

Cllr Casey told the chamber there had long been a problem with short-term accommodation in the town, and that a hotel was badly needed.

He said, “This is in light of the number of calls I get weekly about people looking for accommodation in South Longford."

“We have the Corlea Trackway and we have Center Parcs where people go for three or four days and then they're taking a week out and maybe want to stay somewhere else in Longford. We also have over 45 weddings a year that we're losing out on that's going to separate counties so Longford is losing the revenue of that.”

Cllr Casey added “Lanesboro is ideally based because we have the Shannon. It's a tourism town as a whole. We've lost our Power Station, which is tragic for the town but this would be a part of a regeneration for Lanesboro and for South Longford.”

“I was talking to John (Director of Services John Brannigan) and fair play to him, they were looking at the hotels for Longford town and he said that they're going to widen the scope up now and look for the smaller towns around like Lanesboro.”

“He does see the need for it. If we can bring in hoteliers with different enticements, with rates and planning fees to get them in … like we're not looking for a massive five-star hotel. We're looking for a nice hotel for the area that fits in nicely with our town.”

Cllr Seán Mimnagh, who is currently working on plans to counteract the lack of accommodation in the town, voiced his support for the motion and suggested the site of the old derelict hotel.

He pointed out that Lanesboro was an ideal location for a hotel given its proximity to the River Shannon as well as lakes and other local amenities available.

Cllr Mimnagh added, “I’m from Lanesboro, I see the potential, I've seen it from day one. We have an old hotel in the town that's derelict; it would be ideal if the truth be known, as something that needs to be done with it.”

“I'm involved in a lot of functions out there that are bringing people into the town and there’s nowhere for them to stay. I'm working on plans to try and counteract that but further down the line, a hotel is definitely something Lanesboro requires.”

Agreeing with the motion, Cllr Padraig McNamara said he welcomed the fact that efforts to establish a hotel in the county were being extended beyond Longford town. “Granard is a very fine example,” he told the chamber.

“It has the Booktown Festival, which has been hugely successful and the biggest problem we have is accommodation to accommodate people there.” “They have to go to Mullingar and other places when we could look after them in our own town.”

He added, “As Cllr Mimnagh said in relation to the lakes, the rivers and all that we have around us, we have loads of amenities around us that people could stay for a few days in Longford.”

Cllr Paul Ross concurred, pointing out that Longford was the “only county in the country with a very limited number of hotels and really no top class wedding venue.”

He added, “I do know my council colleague, Councillor Skelly is engaging with Michael Nevin who has been out there a number of times in relation to the renovation of a building out there. He is engaging with a developer so I hope we'll have news in the next coming weeks.”

North Longford councillors Garry Murtagh and Turlough McGovern also supported the motion and praised Director of Services John Brannigan for broadening the scope in terms of the location.

Cllr Murtagh added, “It's disappointing when you see GAA events being run in different counties; going to Leitrim and Cavan to host them. Even the wedding venues! There's 22 hotels approximately in Cavan, so the opportunity should be there for Longford at this stage.”

In response, Cllr Mark Casey thanked the chamber for supporting for his motion.

He added, “Paul (Ross) did highlight that there were two hotels, one in Ballyleague and then one in Lanesboro; that was 20 years ago, but that was before a basket case was made out of the economy by the government at the time and they all closed down. That wasn't the first rural town that happened in.”

“Now we're in recovery mode, the government has forgotten rural Ireland. So we need to stand up here ourselves, put on the county jersey and all roll in together.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme