Ireland

Center Parcs resort will put ‘Longford and Midlands on map’ - Varadkar

Chief executive says company had 8,000 applications for jobs at €233m holiday village

Ballymahon was promised a huge cash injection from the arrival of Center Parcs, but has the €233 million project delivered for local businesses?
Liam Cosgrove
Fri Jul 05 2019 - 18:24

The opening of the Center Parcs holiday resort will put “Longford and the Midlands on the map”, the Taoiseach has said.

Leo Varadkar visited the site near Ballymahon on Friday to mark the completion of the €233 million development, which he said was “almost certainly the largest” ever investment in Co Longford.

The resort, which stretches across 395 acres, opens to the public in three weeks.

“It is going to put Longford and the midlands on the map,” Mr Varadkar said. “This huge tourism development has the potential to be a game changer for the Midlands.”

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Martin Dalby, Center Parcs chief executive, dismissed any fears about the company’s sustainability as it makes its first foray outside of the UK market.

Center Parcs says the development has generated 1,000 jobs and Mr Dalby said there had been some 8,000 applications for these.

Mr Dalby said the company had not invested in the area “lightly” and that “the response in terms of bookings we have received so far gives us great confidence that once we are open it will work really well”.