# Great Southern Hotels



## CCOVICH (25 Apr 2005)

Can anyone (other than a self-interested J O'Donoghue) justify the DAA maintaining ownership of the GSH Group, especially when you consider:

(a) Gary McGann's very public comments that he isn't interested in running them
(b)  The story in today's papers about the growing debt on the DAA balance sheet that may preclude it from building a new terminal without raising charges
(c)  How does a hotel group contribute to the management of Dublin airport, which is something that clearly requires the focus of directors and management (not to mention the Cabinet)?

I'll set my stall out- I think the hotels should be sold.  Mr. O'Donoghue's claims last week about the importance of the hotels as a training facility were pathetic.  There are cheaper ways of training people, and it is surely no conincidence that two of the hotels in the group are in his consistituency (Parknasilla and Killarney, if I'm not mistaken).  Also, the fact that Bertie enjoys holidaying in Parknasilla is proabaly saving the group as well.  

I suppose the danger is that the DAA wouldn't get a decent price at the moment, given the poor results posted by Jurys recently, the string of trading losses posted by the group, and also the 'desperate to sell' message conveyed by Mr. McGann last week.


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