The planned construction of an international championship golf course in Co Laois designed by Seve Ballesteros has been hailed as a major tourism boost for the county.
The course will be at Killenard, just off the N7 between Portarlington and Portlaoise, and Ballesteros is expected in Ireland later this month to announce full details of the development.
In addition to the golf course, the development will include a restaurant, hotel, clubhouse, shop and petrol station, as well as 104 houses. Planning permission was granted for the development by Laois County Council in March and construction is expected to begin later this summer.
Behind the venture is a local building company, Corrigeen Construction.
Ballesteros, who has previously been associated with design ventures in the State, has helped design eight golf courses across Europe.
The winner of 88 titles, including three British Opens and two Masters, Ballesteros will work on the design of the Laois course with Kilkenny-based architect Jeff Howes, whose creation at Gowran Park is to be officially launched on July 1st.
The developers envisage high-profile tournaments such as the Irish Open being staged at the course. They say it will be of a standard equivalent to Druids Glen and the K Club. Margaret Ryan, the chief executive of Portlaoise Chamber of Commerce, said the development would add greatly to the county's image and boost tourist numbers.
Tom Treacy, chairman of Laois Tourism, also welcomes the proposed development.
"It is very welcome indeed because, as you know, tourism in Laois would be very much on the bottom rung of the ladder. It would not be in the same league at all as Kerry or Clare," he said.
Laois already has a number of golf courses - in Portarlington, Mountrath, Abbeyleix, Rathdowney and the Heath - and they have been attracting golfers on package holidays from the UK, Sweden and Belgium, Mr Treacy confirmed. "Despite foot-and-mouth, we will bring in more golfers this year than ever before," he said.