A replica of the White House will form the centrepiece of a €460m Las Vegas-style village deep in the Tipperary countryside, it was announced today.Plans for the 800-acre development beside Two-Mile Borris in Co Tipperary include a casino, a National Hunt racecourse, a 7,000 seater greyhound track, five-star hotel, a 15,000-seater concert venue – with retractable roof – and golf course reports breakingnews.ie. Independent TD Michael Lowry, top racehorse trainer Aidan O’Brien and concert promoter Denis Desmond have backed the venture dreamt up by slot-machine tycoon Richard Quirke.
“It is the most sophisticated and ambitious project that Ireland has ever seen,” said Mr Lowry.
Mr Quirke is a former garda from Thurles, Co Tipperary, who made his fortune in the gaming industry and is best known for his Dr Quirkey’s Good Time Emporium.
The businessman, now based in Dublin, who declined to speak directly about his plans, has already poured €30m into buying up land, planning and work already carried out on the site near the new M8 motorway, according to Mr Lowry. The rest of the funding for what will be known as the Tipperary Venue is expected to come entirely from Mr Quirke and another private investor abroad.
“He already has a number of investors willing to come onboard and the reality is that this venture will float on its own commercial merit,” said Mr Lowry, who was forced to resign as a government minister in 1996 over financial controversy.
The now Independent TD, put forward as a spokesman for the plans, said it would take three years to build. It will employ 1,000 people through the construction phase and 2,000 permanent jobs will be created when it is completed, according to the proposals. Planning applications are to be lodged with North Tipperary County Council tomorrow.
The inclusion of an “internationally recognised, world class” casino – which, like Las Vegas, would be incorporated into a 500-room hotel – could prove contentious despite an expected relaxation of gaming laws in the new year. Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has already signalled an overhaul of legislation currently banning casinos here.
In another detail reminiscent of Las Vegas, the development will be set around a reconstruction of the White House, as it stood in its original form in 1829. The replica will be known as The Hoban Memorial after Irishman James Hoban who designed the original Washington building, now world-famous as the seat of US power.
Mr Quirke, whose son Wesley dates former Miss World Rosanna Davison, claimed the project has received the support of The White House Historical Association. Other features include a sprint track, an all-weather floodlit track, an equestrian centre, retail outlets, helicopter facilities and a church.
Despite the international economic crisis, and Ireland’s own crippling recession, Mr Lowry insisted investors were willing to put up the cash with work expected to begin in the new year. “It is unique,” he said. “It will be the one and only of its type in Europe.”
