Derelict hotels and ransacked estates – the legacy of the Celtic Tiger

Date Published: 07-Dec-2011

They both stand testament to the legacy of Celtic Tiger boom and bust – shocking images of a once-popular hotel torn asunder and a luxury housing estate left to rot by the banks.

The Oyster Manor Hotel in Clarinbridge – which had been destined for a multi-million euro redevelopment with penthouse suites and a leisure centre – now sits in ruins, a dilapidated shadow of its former glory.

The hotel features in a video recently uploaded to YouTube by Tree Light Pictures, which shows the extent of five years of damage by vandals and after thieves ripped almost every foot of copper from the walls.

In the corridor of one bedroom wing, not a single stud wall remains, and any fittings of value are long gone.

A far cry from the height of the hotel’s popularity in 2000 and 2001 when it was the epicentre of functions for Clarinbridge Hurling Club.

And in Loughrea, at the entrance to the town sits the Cottage Hill estate – once trumpeted as a luxury family development with beautiful views across to the Burren because of its elevated site – which has been branded a “deathtrap”.

It is constantly targeted by vandals; with practically every window in the 40 homes smashed and copper piping being stolen for scrap, any residual value is being “sucked out of it”.

See special feature in this week’s Connacht Tribune.