THE Rose of Tralee won’t have a permanent ‘Dome’ building until at least 2018, said Rose of Tralee International Festival Chief Executive, Anthony O’Gara, this morning.

Mr O’Gara was speaking at a Tralee Chamber Alliance Business Breakfast meeting at the Rose Hotel where details of the festival’s street entertainment were revealed.

Mr O’Gara also used the occasion debunk the perception that the Rose of Tralee Festival has any financial stake in The Rose Hotel.

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Speaking about the proposed Dome, Mr O’Gara said it would be more likely that the permanent structure would be built in 2018 rather than next year.

“I think it [the Dome] will be the year after next,” he said. Mr O’Gara also called on the business community to get involved in the process.

“The Dome project is going to be a very big challenge over the next couple of years. It has to be decided what the shape, structure and ownership of it will be. The Rose Festival will be in a position to take that on commercially, we’re prepared to manage it and to make sure it works every year, but we will be engaging with the business community in Tralee, Kerry and internationally to come on board as partners and we’re very open-minded about what the structure of that partnership will be. The most important thing is that we have an events centre in Tralee, where we want to host 1,000 or 800 people and bring business to the town,” he said.

With regard to The Rose Hotel, Mr O’Gara wished to clarify the Festival’s involvement in the business.

“The Rose of Tralee festival does not own The Rose Hotel or any part of it. We have a partnership,” he said. Mr O’Gara continued to explain how the Festival engaged with Dick an Eibhlín Henggeler a few years ago to persuade them that it was a good idea to buy the Fels Point Hotel.

The Festival was involved in the purchasing process and they took responsibility for the restructuring of the hotel and the refurbishment. He said the Henggelers undertook all the financial aspects and that they are the owners of the hotel.

He said the Henggelers have a close relationship with Festival through their late daughter, Dott, and they want to support the Festival. The means by which they are going to support it, is that when the hotel gets to a commercial place where it is capable of supporting the Dome project, the Henggelers will contribute “a couple of million towards it”.