Planning application submitted for the redevelopment of Óstán Ghaoth Dobhair

Planning permission has been submitted to Donegal County Council by Vesada Private Ltd to redevelop the iconic Óstán Ghaoth Dobhair.

The hotel was previously owned by the local Boyle family but has been vacant since 2016 when it was put up for auction by receivers acting on behalf of the banks with a reserve price of €590,000. The hotel, which overlooks Bád Eddie, and its sister hotel the Seaview Hotel were purchased in 2020. 

At that time, Sinn Féin Deputy Pearse Doherty said that Bunbeg Revitalisation Limited, part of Vesada Private, was going to make such an investment in the area which would boost tourism, create local jobs and also provide recreational amenities for tourists and for those living in the area.

A spokesman for Vesada said work would begin within nine months of planning permission being granted and that construction would take up to a year and that the reopening is a tourist and wedding venue.

“Planning has been submitted and received by Comhairle Contae Dhún na nGall within this last hour to renovate An Ostán Úr, in Gaoth Dobhair,” independent councillor Micheál Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig posted on Friday.

“If successful this will be of a massive benefit to a community that has been neglected by governments over many generations, a wedding venue along with 71 bedrooms and costing close to €14 million I have been told.”

Vesada Private Ltd, who lodged the application, has already started work on the redevelopment of the Seaview at nearby Mschaire Chlochair, which will see 80 bedrooms and a gym and extensions to the existing bar and restaurant.