Possible opening date given for former hotel in Offaly

IT'S possible that after many years of vacancy and dereliction the former Royal Shannon Hotel in Banagher will begin a new chapter in its illustrious history in early 2025.

€527,000 was granted to the rejuvenation project through the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund. This sum was granted in 2020. This funding came from the Property Tax paid by the people of Offaly to the Council, therefore it is a good example of seeing our money being paid to tax and being directed towards a good project such as this.

Town Regeneration Officer Olwen Cummins told the Midland Tribune that the funding is going towards the design element of the Marina and Hotel project. “Our design team is working hard on this at the moment,” she said, “and we hope to have the Design Masterplan finalised before the summer.

“It will be a tourism and architectural masterplan which will set out how we are going to upgrade the hotel and the marina area.”

Despite the hotel being vacant for many years, it is still in reasonable condition but it will also require a lot of upgrading work. Last year it was announced that the County Council had purchased Royal Shannon.

Olwen said there are many options for the former hotel.

“There is a possible community option whereby the community could run the building. There's a civic option where the Council runs the building. Or it could be jointly run by both the Council and the local community. No decision has been made on any of that yet.

“It could have a number of uses all operating in the building at the same time. These could include a digital hub, or something tourism oriented or something enterprise oriented.

“Further consultation with the public will be needed before the design team finally nails it down.

“Because it's been vacant for so long the building is going to need a lot of improvement works, but it's a protected structure and any works done will be done bearing this in mind. We will have to conserve as much of what remains inside as we possibly can.”

She pointed out that after the masterplan is published then the Council will have to reapply for more funding. This extra funding could be as much as €3 million or €4 million and will be directed towards the actual construction work in the marina area and in the hotel.

She said it's possible that the hotel might be fully revamped and open to the public in early 2025.