Waterford Senator Joe Conway has condemned Waterford Council’s approach to the Grand Hotel in Tramore, saying their inaction in allowing the site to stay derelict is “grossly unfair” to the people of Tramore as well as being an “aesthetic calamity”
In a statement, Senator Conway said, “If there is a more depressing blot on Waterford’s skylines than the hulk of the derelict Grand Hotel in Tramore, then I do not know of it. Since it passed out of the Treacy family’s ownership in 2014, the recent history of this once proud establishment has been one of unrelenting decrepitude and dereliction.”
“Its sad state is not just an aesthetic calamity for the town and county, but has also hamstrung the town’s economic viability and its potential to attract more high-spending visitors to the coastal area of east Waterford. Conservative estimates would indicate that the loss of the hotel for the last decade or so has denied the town some €35m of spend – and every passing year of closure is an annual loss of about €3m.”
Senator Conway then went to suggest that the Council were slow to pursue the hotel’s new owner since 2014, saying “The “top table” in the Chamber largely rubbished the idea of taking actions against the agents of dereliction – I recall on one occasion, while pressing strongly for action, being told dismissively that “we won’t get a washer out of them”.
“Whatever about the failures of the past decade, it is grossly unfair now in 2026 to the town, its people and its economy, to allow this outrage to continue without remediation. It needs concentrated and directed actions, such as the establishment of a no-nonsense Task Force to tackle such a huge haemorrhage of potential from our local economy.”
“It is simply grossly unfair to blight one of Ireland’s finest resorts and magnificent bays by carrying on with a hulking carbuncle atop the town that tells a lingering tale of inaction and hand-wringing.”
Senator Conway also compared the project to Mount Congreve and Waterford airport, saying that developing The Grand Hotel was just as valid a proposition.
Reports from earlier this year suggest that a Waterford based developer is seeking to turn The Grand Hotel into an aparthotel, although a planning application does not seem to have been made.
AARON KENT
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
