Aer Rianta will close the 100-room Torc Great Southern Hotel and put it up for sale. The 1960s hotel and seven acres of ground could fetch up to €10 million, given land prices in Killarney and its potential to continue as a hotel, say staff.
Responding to the news, Labour TD Ms Breeda Moynihan-Cronin accused the Government of reneging on "solemn promises" made before the General Election that the Great Southern Hotels would not be privatised.
The importance of the Great Southern Hotels could not be underestimated, she said "They are a flagship for tourism as regards conditions and pay for staff. The Great Southerns set standards in an industry that is often criticised for its pay structures and conditions."
Political pressure had been used in the past to avert such a move, it could do so again, she said. The proposed sale has led to fears among union officials that other hotels in the group will be sold off.
There have been calls from local politicians and staff for the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, "to use his influence" to reverse the decision. The announcement follows the recent sale of 4.6 acres of what was described as surplus land at the Killarney Great Southern hotel for €4 million.
Mr Sean Dempsey, company secretary with Great Southern Hotels, said none of the other eight hotels, in Kerry, Cork, Galway, Shannon, Rosslare or Dublin, was for sale. The firm was also involved in managing a Derry hotel.
The three-star rated Torc was seasonal and its role as a winter training school for CERT had been much reduced in recent years.
The decision to sell the hotel and its seven acres on the edge of town and adjacent to the older Killarney Great Southern was taken by both the boards of Aer Rianta and the Great Southern, Mr Dempsey said.
"The policy of the company in Kerry is to consolidate its position on the two other four-star hotels, the new Killarney Great Southern on which €15 million has been spent and the Parknasilla Great Southern," Mr Dempsey said.
Mr Eamonn McKeon, chief executive of the group, informed Torc staff yesterday.
Ms Sheila Casey, mayor of Killarney and the Torc's reservations manager, one of five permanent employees, described the news as "a devastating shock" and criticised the lack of notice and the failure to notify unions.
The hotel employs 60 people during peak season, many with 30 years' loyal and dedicated service, she said. "No prior knowledge was intimated to the staff or the unions," she said.
SIPTU, the staff union, said it would resist the sale. "It is the start of the rot, of another move to sell the Great Southern hotels. We are not going to allow it to happen," said SIPTU official Mr Donal Tobin.
