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The developer of the former Clonmel Arms site is close to submitting a new planning application for a 60-bed hotel, with a conference centre, on the town centre site, Cllr Tom Acheson stated at a meeting of Clonmel Borough District.

He said that the developer had initially applied for planning permission for a 100-bed hotel but couldn’t secure a hotel chain to develop a hotel there.

Cllr Acheson said that a hotel was the only commercial activity that would kickstart business in the town centre. He said that the days of new shops coming into the town were “gone”.

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A hotel with 60-70 bedrooms would bring people and business into the town.

Cllr Acheson said that he had recently read a report in which a Tipperary South Oireachtas member shared his opinion on life in Clonmel - “and it wasn't a very nice opinion”.

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(Cllr Acheson was referring to remarks made in the Dáil by Deputy Mattie McGrath, when he said that the town centre of Clonmel is “decaying”).

With the developer of the Clonmel Arms site trying to get an anchor chain on board, Cllr Acheson said “if I was a hotel developer in Dublin, I wouldn’t be too inclined to come down to the town, with the way it was portrayed”.

District Mayor Pat English said that a new 60-bed hotel on the former Clonmel Arms site would be great, and something for the town to build on. The council was available to offer any help it could to the developer.

He also agreed that “we shouldn’t be running down our own town”.

District Administrator Carol Creighton said that the developers of the former Clonmel Arms were aware how important the site is for the town, and it is important to them to get it right.