“IT’S a great day for Ireland, a great day for this region, and a great day for Adare Manor,” beamed Adare Manor chief executive, Colm Hannon.
Despite a seven-year wait for the world’s biggest golf tournament at the five-star resort, Billionaire owner, JP McManus’ long-term dream of bringing Ryder to his native county is finally being realised.
Standing in front of the freshly cut greens on the Manor’s newly designed 18-hole course, he said: “Sure, we’re all very excited with the news. We’re all looking forward to putting on a good show.”
“All the staff here have really taken ownership of Adare Manor, and they have worked tirelessly to ensure it will look and be at its best,” he told Virgin Media News.
Colm Hannon said that the real benefit in the lead in to the event is that “we all get together to ensure that we really reap the rewards, between now and 2026, and thereafter.”
He plans to leave “a legacy of golf for this country continuing the great success that Ireland has had in the golf arena”.
The Manor is “operating at full capacity” employing 580 staff, with 50 of them assigned to the golf course alone.
Adare village is one of the country’s biggest traffic bottlenecks and local business owners have called on the government to fast-track a proposed bypass to the motorway.
Maeve Martin Kelly of the Adare Heritage Centre said: “Absolutely, I’d like to see it fast-tracked, and this is the opportunity.”
“When you look back on the K Club, when they had the Ryder Cup, there was infrastructure put into the roads around Kildare.”
The heritage centre employs 70 staff in high season because of the summer influx of tourists.
They come from the US, Asia and across Europe.
According to Kelly, business is good: “We’re open seven days a week, and we only close for Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day, but that now might be changed,” Kelly joked.
Louis Murphy, proprietor of the Dunraven Arms, located just up from the Manor, was smiling too.
He knows a thing or two about hosting high profile guests, having welcomed British royalty and movie stars.
“It’s going to be a huge honour for Adare Manor and everybody will rally in behind it and give it every support we can to make it into a huge success,” he added.
Minister of State Patrick O’Donovan said it “will be worth in the hundreds of millions over a long period of time, because the tourist product that is Adare and the tourist product that is the Shannon region is going to explode”.
Keith Piggot, head chef, in Oak and Apple and the Good Room was cooking up a storm for a posse of tourists looking to sample some local delights.
“I’m from Limerick and we are proud of where we are from, and we are proud of where Limerick is going. Roll on 2026,” he said.
