It's April fools day

One of the UK's largest holiday resort firms is to seek planning permission for a development in Ireland that could create 500 jobs.

Center Parcs UK is concluding negotiations with the State forestry board, Coillte, for a forestry village resort to be built near Ballymahon in Co Longford.

It is expected that 600 jobs will be created in the construction stage.

With five forestry based village resorts and a turnover of over €400 million, Center Parcs run some of the most successful family holiday venues in the UK.



Center Parcs management has been in discussions with Longford County Council CEO Tim Caffrey and Coillte and is set to announce a deal worth more than €100 million.

The company intends to lease hundreds of acres of mature and semi-mature forestry at Newcastle, near Ballymahon.



It will apply for planning to construct more than 200 lodges and villas with a swimming pool complex, spas, restaurants and bars near the river Inny, creating 500 full-time and part-time jobs in the single biggest private tourism investment of its kind in this region

thelad95 wrote: »

Given what happened with McDonalds recently, this may not actually be a joke but obviously given today's date, I'm highly sceptical.

Supermacs have apparently changed their name to McDonaghs..

http://supermacs.ie/

press release from McDonaghs wrote:

PRESS RELEASE

Supermac’s have formally changed their name to McDonagh’s

A spokesman for Supermac’s has confirmed with immediate effect that all Supermac’s restaurants will now change their name to McDonagh’s.

All signage in our 100 plus restaurants and livery will be changed in the coming days and the new logo and name is the result of an exhaustive consultation process which sought to honour the source of the initial inspiration for Supermac’s restaurants name.

Staying true to roots that outlast even Supermac’s foundation in 1978, the newly titled ‘McDonagh’s’ restaurants will seek to fully acknowledge the work carried out by the McDonagh family’s influential beef farming uncle, Ronan McDonagh.

In honour of ‘Uncle Ron’ – a colourful McDonagh family character who led a truly unique life – Supermac’s, under its new moniker McDonagh’s, will seek to overhaul its menu in honour of the man who first supplied Supermac’s with its signature beef and taste over 37 years ago.

Just one of the McDonagh’s menu changes to be rolled out over the coming months will see the signature Mighty Mac now known as the Big Ronnie, owing to Ron’s impressive 6ft 6″ frame. The care and consideration given to the menu change is something Uncle Ron would have approved of as he was a man for attention to detail. Famously, Ron would hug his herd of cows goodnight, sometimes spending upwards of 2 hours each night reading to them (with the work of Brendan Behan being a favourite).

A changed menu and name will also help McDonagh’s with its expansion abroad as it seeks to distinguish itself from fast food companies whose inferior products share similar sounding name to Supermac’s.

The total cost of the rebrand has run into seven figures but we feel this is in line with the outlandish spirit of Ron, most typified by the occasion he lost £250,000 to Marlon Brando in a game of poker in a Monte Carlo casino.

“Uncle Ron led a truly atypical life and over the years he regaled the family with priceless anecdotes,” says Supermac’s founder Pat McDonagh, “we used to call him the man of a thousand jobs as he had tried his hand at almost everything before settling on his true passion of cattle farming in his later years”.

The new McDonagh’s mascot, which will now adorn all 100 of our stores throughout Ireland will pay homage to Ron’s time travelling the world with Duffy’s Circus. Ron spent several years with the circus after his brief stint as an unsuccessful opera singer in Italy.

Uncle Ron is said to have treasured his time entertaining crowds around the world as his larger than life clown persona which saw him dress in distinctive green dungarees complete with an orange wig.

As a touching tribute, each McDonagh’s restaurant will house a statue of Uncle Ron ‘clowning around’.