This article is from page 2 of the 2006-07-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
THE BANNER is officially booming, with an €80 million offer made for Cusack Park; 300 more jobs to top the 285 just announced in Shannon and hotels worth more than €11 million being opened back-to-back.
The deadline for bids to buy the GAA facility closed last Friday and it is understood that the leading bid, which includes building a state-ofthe-art stadium and training ground, is worth in excess of €80 million.
Clare GAA is sitting on at least three multi-million euro offers for the development of a new playing and administrative headquarters on a greenfield site in the environs of Ennis, in return for Cusack Park.
The top bid is understood to be from a Clare-based consortium. The three proposals will be considered by the board over the coming months, before a final decision is made on what will be the biggest property deal ever in the county.
In February, a special sub-committee of the GAA board was established to examine all proposals after a bidding-war erupted between rival property developers seeking to acquire Cusack Park, in return for building a new stadium in the environs of Ennis.
Meanwhile, Enterprise and Employment Minister, Micheal Martin, is expected in Shannon later this month to announce more than 300 new jobs for the Shannon Free Zone.
The jobs will be created by US ecommerce firm Digital River and come on the heels of last week’s announcement of 285 jobs in existing companies, Halifax Insurance Ireland and SYKES Enterprises Inc.
And Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue has officially opened the new Cliffs of Moher Hotel in Liscannor. The €3.5 million development is the second hotel in as many months to be opened by The Atlantis Holiday Group and will create 40 jobs for the area. Last month, the Clare-based holiday and accommodation body opened the €8 million Tír Gan Éan House Hotel and Holiday Complex in Doolin, leading to the creation of 30 new jobs.
It has also been revealed that house prices in Clare are rocketing, with increases of 253 per cent over the last decade, according to the latest Permanent TSB House Price Index. The average cost of a house in Clare in 1996 was €69,330. Ten years later, this had increased to €244,415.