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Two hotel plans appealed

Plans for two new hotels in Dublin with a total of almost 350 rooms have been appealed to An Bord Pleanála. citizenm

A unit of Dutch hotel company CitizenM received approval last month from Dublin City Council for a 247-bedroom development on a site fronting Bridge Street, close to St Patrick’s Cathedral. It will mark the company’s first property in Ireland. It already operates hotels at locations across Europe, the United States and Asia.

The site is occupied by an industrial warehouse that was formerly part of Jacob’s biscuit factory, and Molyneux House, comprising the converted and extended 19th century Molyneux Church.

A number of appeals to the granting of permission for the scheme have now been made to An Bord Pleanála. A decision on the case is due by the middle of June, according to the planning watchdog.

Plans for a 98-bedroom hotel by Cathedral Leisure have also been appealed to An Bord Pleanála.

Pizza Night for 1,000 Homeless

More than a thousand homeless people living in seven Irish cities and towns enjoyed a Pizza Night on Saturday, hosted by Lions Clubs. Lions Logo

Pizzas were delivered to hostels in Bray, Cork, Dundalk, Dun Laoghaire, Galway, Wexford and Wicklow together with soft drinks, confectionery and materials for a poster colouring game. The guests will also be entertained by a number of Irish musicians who will appear on a specially-recorded video streamed on You Tube.

The Lions Pizza Night for the Homeless was inspired by Eric’s Party, an annual evening of food and entertainment for homeless people in the capital, which has been hosted by Dublin Lions Club over six decades, most recently in the Dublin GPO.

Says Helen Leavy, president of Dublin Lions Club:

Lynne to head Aer Lingus

The first ever female chief executive of Aer Lingus has been appointed, with owner IAG naming insider Lynne Embleton for the role. ib Lynne Embleton

She succeeds Donal Moriarty, who has been interim chief executive at the carrier since Sean Doyle stepped down from the role last year as he took up the CEO reins at British Airways.

Ms Embleton has been chief executive and chairman of IAG Cargo since 2017.

She previously held a number of roles at British Airways. She was its managing director at Gatwick, and was director of strategy and chairman of BA CityFlyer. She joined British Airways in 1992.

She is also the first non-Irish chief executive at Aer Lingus since Christoph Mueller, who’s German, stepped down from the role in 2015 – the year IAG acquired the Irish airline.

ITIC hits at 'Lazy Commentary'

ITIC has described as 'lazy comment', suggestions that staycations will be sufficient for the Irish hospitality sector this year. ruthandrews0720

It its latest bulletin in says:

'Some lazy commentary suggests that the staycation market will be enough for Ireland’s tourism and hospitality industry this summer assuming restrictions are lifted. As welcome and important as the domestic market is it can sadly never make up for the loss of earnings that is generated from overseas tourism. Saying that we need to do all we can to encourage home holidays this year and in that context Government needs to redesign and relaunch its Stay and Spend Scheme. Flawed from the outset, and designed as a complicated tax rebate, this scheme has been further undermined by rolling lockdowns. The current restrictions – allied to the poor design – mean that the scheme needs to be relaunched as a consumer-friendly upfront voucher for every household redeemable against all tourism and hospitality businesses operating in the state.

Government plan lacks clarity, says ITIC

Government’s latest plan offers little clarity for industry hardest hit by the pandemic, says ITIC in its latest bulletin. eoghanomw18

ITIC says:

'On Tuesday the Government published its “Path Ahead” plan, an updated version of its Living with Covid strategy of last autumn. Like its predecessor the new plan is flawed and weak on specifics and crucially offers Ireland’s tourism industry little clarity as to when it can recommence trading.