Ireland's largest hotel is re-opening today after a two-year closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Cirtywest Hotel shut its doors in mid-March 2020 when the respiratory virus first took hold.
The 764-bedroom hotel played a part in the national effort to bring Covid-19 under control from March 26, 2020 with its premises being used by the HSE as a test centre.
The HSE announced that the Covid-19 testing centre at Citywest was moving to Alexander House, Belgard Square North in Tallaght.
A spokesman for the HSE said: "This service has been provided thanks to the continued commitment of the team including HSE staff, agency staff, volunteers, Defence Forces, the National Ambulance Service and all the contractors working with the HSE."
"We are grateful to the management and staff of Citywest Hotel and Convention Centre for accommodating the test centre for the past 16 months, and who continue to work with the Covid Vaccination service, which will remain in Citywest."
Now, Citywest Hotel is moving forward to what management hope will be a busy 2022.
They are increasing their team having had over 350 people working in the hotel before the sudden closure.
The General Manager of Citywest Hotel said that they are excited to welcome back guests and thanked all who helped during the darkest days of the pandemic.
Glenn Valentine said: “Today is a really important day for all the team here at Citywest, and we’re delighted to finally be able to reopen the hotel to guests old and new.
"We have a very ambitious strategy in place to rebuild the hotel’s business and operations to the levels experienced pre-pandemic.
"The ownership and leadership team here at Citywest are extremely proud of and grateful to our team for the enormous work done in support of the HSE’s operations over the past two years, and also pay tribute to the professionalism and dedication of the HSE, the medical staff who operated here and to the large number of volunteers and others who provided support for what was a national effort.
"It’s a huge relief that the hospitality sector can now reopen and hopefully the restrictions on travel and tourism that the pandemic necessitated are a thing of the past. We look forward to welcoming guests for what promises to be a busy opening weekend of the Six Nations.”
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