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Hotel college marks 60 years


Left to right: fourth-year students Kelly Clair (Kilrush), Michelle Normoyle (Parteen), Ciara Jones (Lisseycasey) and Eoin Horgan (Shannon).

DOZENS of graduates returned to Shannon College of Hotel Management last Friday as it celebrated its 60th anniversary.
Retired North Clare hotelier Eamon Vaughan was in the second class that enrolled at the college. “It was good, it gave us the basics. We used to work for the summer in the kitchens and other parts of the airport, although I used to go home and work in Vaughan’s Hotel. Then I went on to Germany and on to London. In the original days, it was so different, we didn’t learn anything about food costings or anything like that. You thought all you had to do to be a hotel manager was to walk around,” he said of his days at the college.
There were 21 in his class and he was the only one from Clare and he said the students met many celebrities of the day there. “I remember I spent half an hour talking to Nat King Cole one night, on night duty. I remember meeting Zsa Zsa Gabor and Cardinal Spelman, I met the famous singer Johnnie Ray once.”
Minister of State Jan O’Sullivan addressed the gathering and she said the contribution of Brendan O’Regan should not be forgotten.
“I think we should refer in particular to Brendan O’Regan, who was the instigator of so much that was good and innovative in this region of Ireland. It really made the Mid-West a place where things happened, where ideas that were only imagined were brought to fruition. This college was part of that and it has been built and developed on the concept of excellence and of innovation and adaptation. It has truly developed over the years into an institution that is recognised the world over,” she said.
She said that the college has offered a very high standard of education and has won recognition around the world. “Education is not just about securing a job, it’s fundamentally about equipping students with the skills to face and overcome the many challenges that they will face over the course of their career and this is where Shannon has really excelled. Not only are graduates sought as soon as they enter the labour market but the alumni have gone around the world. The only seven-star hotel in the world in Dubai has as its chief executive a graduate of this college. That really does make this college one of the best in the world and it’s something to be proud of,” she added.
College Director Phillip J Smyth also praised Dr O’Regan and said he should be honoured, possibly with a statue overlooking the Ennis Bypass or at the Dromoland turn-off.
Dr O’Regan had shown huge vision, Mr Smyth claimed. “He brought the idea to Government (for the college) and was told that there weren’t jobs for 12 professional hotel managers in Ireland. He went ahead anyway and so we are gathered here today. He used the hotel school at Lausanne, which he attended, as the model on which to base the education of future hotel management, comprehensive professional education with a strong practical input and extensive industry placement. This was combined with an ethos of developing management and customer skills,” he said.
Three Government TDs were in the audience when he claimed the existing Joint Labour Committee (JLC) system was preventing the creation of jobs.
“Tourism employment has dropped from 243,666 in 2007 to 180,000 last year. But I truly believe that abolishing the JLCs and changing perceptions could even double the additional 21,000 jobs predicted in the Government’s jobs initiative for the tourism sector. Reinforcing the sense of pride in service delivery today through education would ensure the workforce of tomorrow would be motivated to fill these new jobs and build the tourism industry that offers world renowned hospitality and unparalleled standards of service.”
He also said that the wider education system should be more positive towards tourism.
“If we are serious about tourism it should be included as a subject at Leaving Certificate with possibly elements of history, geography, language, economics and heritage and the development of interpersonal and customer skills. Children should grow up with a sense of being performers on the tourism stage, putting on a show for our guests and serving them, not in a subservient way but proudly, at a highly skilled level.
“At Shannon, we know how wonderful a career in hotel management can be; there are wonderful opportunities for youngsters with a range of talents and abilities throughout the industry,” he added.
Cheques were presented to five charities, Clare Haven Services, the Clare branch of the Samaritans, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Aware and the Irish Hospice foundation. All of them received €1,260 from the college’s student-run charity club.

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