When the catering recruitment specialists known as The Firm celebrated their first birthday, lots of chefs and hoteliers came along to help them party. Hosts Kieran Moore and Micheline Corr were joined by Aileesh Carew of the soon-to-be-opened Morgan Hotel, Olivier Sevestre of the Clarence, and Paul Kavanagh, new general manager of Planet Hollywood, Dublin.
Gerard Denneny, general manager of the Merrion Hotel, promised that the much-awaited five star hotel would open to the public on October 6th and yes, there will be not one, but three launch parties to give us a chance to have a nose around. Chefs that joined the crowd included Paddy Kennedy of the Herbert Park Hotel, Conrad Gallagher of Peacock Alley who is shortly to open Lloyds, near the Merrion Hotel. Artist's agent, Isobel Smith, Rachel Sexton of Digges Downstairs, a new dinner club to be opened next week, and PR supremo Caroline Kennedy also helped to blow out the candles.