Plea to save Mayo's historic Imperial Hotel

By Tom Gillespie

A MEMBER of Mayo County Council has said the proposed sale of the historic town centre Imperial Hotel in Castlebar, to a private developer, was nothing short of ‘scandalous’.

Mayo County Council has sought expressions of interest from experienced developers to transform the building into additional hotel accommodation in Castlebar.

However, Councillor Michael Kilcoyne said such a move could not guarantee the retention of the building as a boutique hotel.

Instead, he said, there is €6 million available to restore the building to its former glory, which should be availed of.

Councillor Kilcoyne protested: “I think this is a scandalous proposal. Myself and Councillor Blackie Gavin were the only two to vote at a Castlebar Municipal District meeting against looking to see what expressions of interest there was from private sector developers in acquiring and developing the site as a boutique hotel.”

The now vacant hotel was the location on Monday, October 21, 1879, for the founding of the Land League by Irish Republican activist Michael Davitt and James Daly, editor of The Connaught Telegraph.

Councillor Kilcoyne stated: “This is the hotel where the Land League was founded by Davitt and Daly. This building should be a museum in their memory.

“It is an historic building with a preservation order on the front of it. But if this goes through some fellow may go in there with a bulldozer and flatten it.

“I thing this is disgraceful. The people of the town should cry halt on this move. There should be a room in the building dedicated to Davitt and Daly and to freedom fighter Ernie O’Malley and the building should contain an IT hub and a tourist information office.”

He added: “In fairness to Peter Hynes, the previous Mayo county manager, he bought the hotel. His intention was to convert it into the headquarters of the town council and he was right in doing that.

“But he could not get the funding from the department to do it up. Now there is €6 million there to do it and some of our councillors want to sell it.

“I don’t know what will become of it if it is sold off.

“Already a number of people have written to The Connaught Telegraph expressing concern about its sale. We should be developing these historic structures which could be huge tourist attractions.

“If it is sold off to a developer for a boutique hotel, once he owns it he can do what he wants with it. It should not be allowed to happen.”