News Tourism & Hospitality

‘Really big day for Killarney’ as centre of excellence for tourism launched

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Tens of millions of euro is to be invested in Killarney in a centre of excellence for tourism in what was billed as “a really big day” for the country’s tourism capital.

The new college of further education will see students from across the country coming to Killarney for training and upskilling, Further Education Minister Simon Harris said.

The college will be housed in the vacant 25,000 sq ft former Pretty Polly / Sara Lee factory, which will be completely revamped.

“This is a really big day for Killarney — the green light to develop a new college of further education,” Mr Harris said.

He said it was symbolic that a derelict site, in such a prominent location in the town, was being brought back to use. “For the hospitality industry in this town, this is going to be really significant. This college will be a centre of excellence for hospitality skills not just for Killarney but for the entire country,” the minister said.

The town’s first third-level college — under the auspices of the Kerry Education and Training Board — will also provide apprenticeships for construction and new energy skills. It will cater for 4,000 students, full-time and part-time, when up and running.

While the final costs of the project would not be revealed until tender, “significant” investment funding was in place and there was “no going back” after today, Mr Harris said.

“There probably isn’t a town in Ireland that does tourism better than Killarney,” he said. 

Staffing was one of the biggest challenges for the industry and training was one of the ways of addressing that.

Killarney was the country’s tourism capital and it was “illogical” there wasn’t access to training.

Asked about the pressure on tourism in Killarney, which is hosting some of the highest numbers of Ukrainian refugees in the country, Mr Harris ruled out any cap on new arrivals coming to the town.

Killarney would benefit from the recently announced fund for towns who are hosting large numbers of refugees, he said

In Tralee, Minister Harris confirmed MTU has been successful under the Technological Sector Strategic Projects fund to proceed to develop the business case for a new Kerry Campus Learner Centre. 

This proposal envisages the facilitation of full consolidation on the Tralee North Campus, which will serve 2,000-3,000 students.

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