Center Parcs planning €85 million Longford resort expansion
Center Parcs is set to spend €85 million on an expansion of its Co. Longford resort, which will see the creation of 250 jobs with its completion.
It also said 300 temporary positions are to be created during the construction phase of the expansion.
Center Parcs revealed that it plans to build 200 extra accommodation lodges, including four luxury tree houses, while its existing guest facilities are to be expanded at the resort, which is situated in Ballymahon.
If permission is granted next year, Center Parcs hopes to begin construction in 2023.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar welcomed the news as “fantastic” for Longford and the Midlands.
“I know the company has made a huge effort to work with the local community and I’m sure that will continue with this further expansion, which will see €80m-€85m invested, 250 permanent jobs created and a further 300 during construction,” he said.
World’s third biggest diamond found in Botswana
Botswanan diamond company Debswana has said it has uncovered a 1,098-carat stone, that it described as the third largest stone of its kind in the world, according to RTÉ.
Found on June 1, the stone was shown to President Mokgweetsi Masisi in Botswanan capital, Gaborone.
Botswana is Africa’s leading diamond producer.
It is the biggest stone of gem-quality to be unearthed in Debswana’s history – the result of a joint venture between the government and diamond group De Beers.
The biggest diamond ever discovered in the world was the 3,106-carat Cullinan, which was found in South Africa in 1905.
The second largest was 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona – a diamond roughly the size of a tennis ball, discovered in northeastern Botswana in 2015.
HSE may be impacted for six months after cyberattack – CEO
The cyberattack on the health services IT systems could still take several months to fix, according to HSE chief executive Paul Reid.
He said that hospitals are still operating with “one hand tied behind their back” as a result of the ransomware attack.
Mr Reid said that while a “very significant” number of systems were back up after last month’s cyberattack, there remains “reasonable constraints on our hospital and community services”.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr Reid said it could take up to six months for the IT systems to fully recover.
He added that he had spoken to a number of organisations that had experienced a cyberattack in the UK, with the Environmental Protection Agency in Scotland saying there was a six month impact in returning to full services.
“I appreciate people’s forbearance with us, and patients are being very supportive of us, but we are still working this through and we are making good progress every week,” he said.
