Randles Honour Founder Kay
Taoiseach Micheal Martin unveiled a portrait of the late Kay Randles, who, along with her husband Neil, opened the Dromhall Hotel on Muckross Road, Killarney, in 1965, as the family celebrated the 60th anniversary of the hotel.
The Taoiseach was joined by family members, Tom, Bernadette, David, Susan and Rosemary Randles; Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Mark Daly; Minister Norma Foley; Minister Michael Healy-Rae; Mayor of Killarney, Cllr. Marie Moloney; Mayor of Kerry, Martin O'Grady; and staff members and guests.
The hotel is now run by the second generation of the Randles family, and proprietor Bernadette Randles described it as a very proud day for everybody associated with the company over the past six decades.
"This is a very special day for us – a day to celebrate 60 years in business, a milestone that began as nothing more than a dream in the mind and heart of our mother, back in 1965," Bernadette said.
Bernadette described her mother as a woman ahead of her time.
"For sixty years, she poured her life, her energy and her love into building these hotels and businesses, all while raising six children. She and my father, Neil, were married just 26 years when he passed away suddenly at the age of 50. And yet, for the next 38 years, without her best friend by her side, she led, she built, she worked, she raised us – and she never stopped."
The hotelier added that for a town of its size, it is some achievement for Killarney to have 37 family-run hotels, and she noted that many local businesses are now in the third and fourth generation of family ownership.
The Taoiseach said the story of the Randles family is very much the story of Killarney, and it was an example of extraordinary entrepreneurial endeavour.
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