Mayor rules out new hotels in Limerick for Ryder Cup 2027
First citizen eyeing passenger train services through Adare village
MAYOR John Moran has acknowledged that new hotels are unlikely to be built in Limerick between now and the start of the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor.
Thousands of tourists will descend on Limerick for the blue-riband tournament in 2027.
Limerick’s existing hotel rooms will be fully booked as visitors will come to the county and city from all over the globe.
It’s sparked calls for the development of new guest accommodation locally.
But Mayor Moran has warned against looking at “short-term solutions”.
“The Ryder Cup itself is relatively short in terms of spend. We are not going to be able to build hotels in two-and-a-half years. But I don’t think any thing (event) would build a hotel just for one tournament. You’d want to build a hotel because you know the overall city, county and region has a need for hotels on a sustainable basis,” the first citizen said.
Asked if he was concerned about a possible lack of rooms for visitors, he said his worries are closer to home.
“The thing that concerns me more is the lack of housing. It’s nothing do to with the Ryder Cup. Obviously, the more housing we have, the more it solves the Ryder Cup issue. But I want houses for people who can’t afford homes,” Mayor Moran said.
One of his flagship policies is the construction of up to 1,000 rapid-build houses, and he has suggested these could be utilised for workers at, and visitors to , the major tournament.
On top of this, he also suggested student halls which would be out of use if the Ryder Cup takes place outside of the academic year, could also pick up some of the slack.
He added: “There’s always the sense that the real benefit for Limerick from the Ryder Cup is probably the build. All the workers coming in, a bit like Eli Lilly which is being built by 2,000 people. It’s about helping these people as they will be here for the entire period.”
Elsewhere, Mayor Moran has held talks with Irish Rail in a bid to get passenger services to travel through Adare village from the January of 2027.
The Limerick to Foynes rail line is in the process of being rebuilt, initially for freight services from the port village.
But there are hopes that due to the fact the Ryder Cup is taking place, passenger services could also resume on the line, which has been closed since 2001.
As part of this, a spur is being proposed to service Adare.
Mayor Moran revealed he has held talks with the Irish Rail board on this issue.
“This was to establish if, as a matter of engineering, they could achieve the objective of having the Ryder Cup serviced by train,” he said.
The mayor said he had received positive news from rail firm’s bosses.
“They think it’s possible to do. The next problem is, can we get the prioritisation of funding from the new transport budget to allow it to happen,” Mayor Moran said.
He wants to see the rail line open to passengers by January 2027 in order to service staff travelling to Adare Manor in preparation.
“Going back to accommodation issues, the workers working on the Ryder Cup could be living in the city centre or coming in from Nenagh, Roscrea or Ennis and commuting to Adare by train,” he suggested.
Ryder Cup 2027 will be an “amazing event” for Limerick, Mayor Moran said.
But he also feels it will provide a useful preview of Limerick into the future.
“We need to be able to showcase a new Limerick. We won’t have it all built.
“For me, it’s an amazing spotlight on Limerick in terms of sport, and, obviously, if we do it well, it shows we can host lots of big events,” he added.
“More importantly, it will be something that we can explain where Limerick is going to, from there to 2050 - and have an awful lot of important people see that,” he concluded.