Following the announcement that it plans to add thousands of rooms in the UK and Ireland in the next few years, Dalata has confirmed that it expects to create 600 new hospitality jobs as part of its expansion plans.
Coming down the pipeline next year for the Irish hotel group is the opening of two new hotels in Dublin, as well as one in Belfast and another in Newcastle in England's northeast, while Dalata is also due to add extensions to a number of existing properties in its portfolio.
"If this was a multinational, I would have IDA and all those guys down knocking on my door, giving me big hugs," said Pat McCann, as reported by thetimes.co.uk. "I'd have ministers giving me big hugs. The reality is that nobody gives a hoot."
McCann believes that the company will have no issue finding the enough trained staff for the new properties coming on stream.
While Dalata is set to expand with new openings in the UK, McCann said the company does not expect to acquire any more properties in Ireland in the near future.
Meanwhile, the Dalata chief added that the group were not overly concerned about about the effects of Brexit and the associated decrease in the number of UK visitors arriving in Ireland.
"The reduction in UK visitors to Ireland is being more than offset by the growth in visitors from the US and other markets," he said.
Meanwhile, The Irish Times is reporting that Dalata has terminated its sponsorship of George Hook's radio show on Newstalk in protest at the broadcasters' comments about rape last week.
"Our commercial relationship with Newstalk and sponsorship of George Hook High Noon has been terminated this morning," said Dalata in a tweet this morning (11 September).
It added that the company could not "support any radio station that allows inappropiate & hurtful comments to be made".
Last week, Dalata reported that profits at the group were up 80% to €32.7 million in the first six months of 2017, with revenues jumping 24.4%.
