The women from Waterford are dressed to the nines. They include Phyllis McGovern, Margaret Hayes, Patricia Wall, Phyllis O'Reilly, Marian O'Keeffe, Mary Naughton and Anne Morrissy. All are pleased as punch. They're coiffed and sparkling to perfection, ready to accept a national award for excellence from CIE Tours International as Ireland's best hostesses of last year in the town and country homes category. That means B & B, they explain. And their secret to success? "We go the extra mile," they chirp. (That's us Waterford women for you.)
Also at the Old Jameson Distillery to receive their award from Dr Jim McDaid, the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, is Frank Kelleher and his (Danish) wife, Ester Kelleher from Bunratty Castle Hotel. Many of the Kelleher family from Blarney are involved in business, such as Frank's sisters, Freida Hayes, chief executive officer of the Blarney Woollen Mills Group, and Marion Kelleher and Berna- dette Kelleher, of the Kilkenny Group.
Agus guna fada ban a chaitheamh aici agus seal dubh timpeall uirthi, cuireann Sharon Ni Bheolain, o RTE, na haoianna eagsula inar lathair. Mark Nolan, managing director of Dromoland Castle, picks up the overall award for excellence in a five-star hotel. The 100-bedroom hotel on 275 acres, some 15 miles outside Limerick, caters for "mostly Americans", he explains, mentioning Jodi Foster as one recent guest.
Michael Rosney and Geraldine Rosney, of Killeen House in Killarney, are here to receive an award for the hotel which provides the best dinner. As the party at the 11th National Awards of Excellence continues, we spare a thought for the party-goers in Los Angeles, where awards of excellence in film have just been presented. Is there a link here? None, maybe, except we sure do like to reward excellence.