The Mid-West Region’s (Limerick, Clare & Tipperary) bid to host the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 2025, will be presented to officials from the WRC Promoters and Motorsport Ireland at Limerick Racecourse on Thursday next.
The Patrickswell venue has been put forward by the Limerick Motor Club in association with the Shannon Region Conference and Sports Bureau, as the base location for the prestigious international event which is returning to Ireland for the first time since 2009.
If successful, Limerick Racecourse would be transformed into a 10,000 square metre service park and international media centre as well as the WRC fan zone for the duration of the competition, which Ireland is expected to host for three years. It also would host more than 1,500 volunteers and hundreds of officials, marshals and service crew members from the world’s largest rallying teams, including M-sport Ford, Toyota Gazoo racing and Hyundai shell mobis.
More than 250,000 spectators are expected to travel from overseas to Ireland for the event and it is hoped that Limerick’s proximity to Shannon Airport and major motorway infrastructure will bolster its bid.
Maurice Meskell of Limerick Motor Club commented “Working in recent months with the Shannon Region Conference and Sports Bureau, we feel that we have put together a strong case to bring this prestigious international sporting event to the Mid-West. Limerick Racecourse is an ideal location due to its quality connectivity and established service areas and we feel our bid is further strengthened by the support we have received across the region from Elected Members, Limerick City and County Council, Fáilte Ireland, An Garda Síochána, local Chambers of Commerce, Shannon Airport, Motor Clubs in surrounding counties and the wider business community,” he added.
Karen Ronan, General Manager of the Shannon Region Conference and Sports Bureau said a successful Limerick bid would deliver significant economic dividends to the wider region. “The experience of other regions suggests that substantial and broad economic benefits are associated with hosting the World Rally Championship” she explained. The Mexican state of Guanajuato this year saw more than 600,000 rallying fans gather for the WRC leading to a €36.5m injection in the local economy along with high hotel occupancy rates and prominent international media coverage. The support received locally for our bid suggests that Limerick is ready and willing to deliver a hugely successful base in Ireland to stage the event for Motorsport Ireland and the WRC.”
Explaining the background to the bid, Kieran Ambrose of Limerick Motor Club stated, “Motorsport Ireland initially requested motor clubs to submit expressions of interest after which Limerick was included in a shortlist of 3 potential locations. We feel that Limerick Racecourse is unrivalled in terms of its accessibility, quality connectivity, existing serviced areas, and track record of successfully managing large-scale and high-profile events. We look forward to an announcement being made by WRC Promoters & Motorsport Ireland in the days following the visit. No matter the outcome we are looking forward to rowing in behind whomever is successful in the bid to ensure Ireland puts on a show when hosting the WRC.”
A decision on the host location will be made by the WRC Promoters & Motorsport Ireland next week. Kerry and Waterford are the other shortlisted locations.
Inaugurated in 1973, it is the second oldest of the FIA’s world championships after Formula One. Each season, which lasts one calendar year, separate championship titles are awarded to drivers, co-drivers and manufacturers.
From all at Thurles.info, may we wish our many readers: following us on social media; both at home and overseas, a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.
Nollaig Shona Dhuit (Ireland); Wesolych Swiat (Poland); Joyeux Noël French (France); Buon Natale (Italy); Frohe Weihnachten German (Germany Austria, Switzerland); Feliz Navidad (Spain and Gibraltar, Mexico, and Central and South America); Boas Festas (Portugal); Zalig Kerstfeest (Belgium); Prettige Kerstdagen/ Zalig Kerstfeest (Netherlands); Gëzuar Krishlindjet (Albania); Eftihismena Christougenna (Greece); Sretan Bozic (Croatia); Craciun Fericit (Romania, Moldova); Merii Kurisumasu (Japan); Kung His Hsin Nien Bing Chu Shen Tan (China); S̄uk̄hs̄ạnt̒ wạn khris̄t̒mās̄ (Thailand); Sung Tan Chuk Ha (Korea); Chuc Mung Giang Sinh (Vietnam); Karisama te nawāṃ sāla khušayāṃwālā hewe (India and Pakistan); Glaedelig Jul (Denmark); Rôômsaid Jôule (Estonia); Gleðileg jól (Iceland); Nadolig Llawen (Wales), and Hyvää Joulua (Finland).
Please Make Every Effort To Stay Safe Over This Holiday Season.
Sadly, the area was the scene of a pedestrian death on January 20th 2014. Since then the nearby railings, supposedly placed there to protect pedestrians, has since been replaced on three different occasions. Now for the fourth time, in possibly the past 36 hours, a large truck has again rearranged these same railings, at the junction of Liberty Square south and Slievenamon Road, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
Any of you haulage contractors out there, with a truck missing a mudguard? Your driver failed to take it with him, having demolished railings, when failing to manoeuvre a left lane turn in Liberty Square Thurles. Co. Tipperary.
Peculiar, that with two currently resident Teachtaí Dála, both supporting the present government, no necessary funding has been acquired to provide a ring road for heavy traffic, thus relieving our medieval choked streetscapes.
The Cashel Palace Hotel in Cashel, Co Tipperary has been named on Condé Nast Traveler’s Gold List 2024 as one of the best hotels and resorts in the world. View HERE.
Now in its 30th year, Condé Nast Traveler Gold List, is an annual miscellany of the very best hotels and resorts in the world, highly recommend by the luxury travel publication’s global editors.
The only hotelin Ireland to make the list, this newly-renovated 300-year-old Cashel Palace Hotel can be found situated at the base of the 12th-century Rock of Cashel, [E25 EF61], latter one of Ireland’s most historic sites and well known to visitors for its pencil-shaped round tower, Cathedral and Romanesque chapel.
Palladian in style, Cashel Palace hotel’s red brick facade contrasts with its limestone rear, and while the rear aspect of the building mirrors the front; the use of different materials makes it rare for a building of this period. Now newly and fully restored by the Coolmore Stud thoroughbred-training family, latter governed by Mr John Magnier, this Palladian manor is truly “a must visit”.
The building was initially designed as the residence for the Church of Ireland Archbishop Theophilus Bolton, in 1732, and designed by one of the pre-eminent architects of that period, Sir Edward Lovett Pearce (1699-1733), latter one of the most celebrated architects of the time, who in 1720 designed Dublin Castle; – in 1726 Drumcondra House; in 1727 the Obelisk, Stillorgan, Dublin, and in 1728 designed Dublin’s impressive Parliament House – now the Bank of Ireland* in College Green, Dublin.
*[A wit then quipped, on August 24th 1802 when the Bank took possession of Parliament House, “Since to a Bank, as ‘tis asserted, our House of Commons is converted; what most we want will be there, in place of what we best can spare.”]
It was in the 20th century that this bishops palace was first turned into a hotel, which then boasted such former guests as Miss Elizabeth Taylor and the late US President Mr Ronald Regan.
Condé Nast Traveler Gold List refer to the staff as “a well-oiled team that’s worked together for years”, and the buildings welcome being “as warm as the toasty log fires” in the “hotel’s woodsmoke-scented entrance hall”.
New proposals suggested by the European Commission that, if implemented, could result in drivers over 70 years of age having to undergo driving refresher courses, will not be implemented here in Ireland.
It has been confirmed that there are no plans by the Irish government to change the current age from over 75 years old to 70 years. Thus drivers under 75 years will not have to supply a medical report confirming their fitness to drive, unless they are specifically identified as someone who has a specific illness and therefore required to do so by law.
The European Commission’s proposals were centred around some motorists having to undergo regular medical tests and refresher courses in order to renew their driving licence. These proposals also suggest mandatory training for professional van drivers, as well as allowing children, as young as 16 years, to drive cars that have been fitted with a governor, thus limiting the top speed of their vehicles.
The new EU proposed directives, which are seen by some as being ageist, unfair, ineffective and harmful, will not be made mandatory for individual member states. While intended to improve road safety, same would be seen as being unjust to those drivers residing in rural areas, that have limited access to other alternative forms of public transport.
According to a European Transport Safety Council report, over 5,400 people aged over 65 years were killed on EU roads in 2021; a third of which were pedestrians.
Here in rural Co. Tipperary, an effort to provide and invest in local road improvements, would be identified as being much more beneficial to the elderly driver, than undergoing driving refresher courses, as anyone who has driven around the streets of Thurles town will most surely confirm.
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