WHEN AN invitation landed on our desk heralding the launch of an ambitious hotel and leisure development in Tipperary we were quite overcome: we thought those days were over.

Such is the ambition of the scheme that it will include a replica of the White House (itself designed by Irishman James Hoban way back) and marketing people like nothing more than to align themselves with a big brand.

The development is to incorporate a five-star hotel and casino, that lookalike US presidential palace, an entertainment venue for 15,000 people, horse and greyhound race tracks, shops, a golf course, and equestrian centre, all sitting on 800 acres.

The invitation comes from a Richard Quirke: could this be the ex-Garda who runs Dr Quirkey’s Good Time Emporium in Dublin and who is thought to have made €30 million from the site of the Carlton Cinema? The man whose son Wesley has been linked with former Miss World Rosanna Davison? The organisers won’t disclose that information but all should be revealed at a presentation of the development next Tuesday at the Horse and Jockey Hotel, near Thurles, Co Tipperary. “Given the size and scale of this venture, I appreciate if you could attend,” says the invite: we’re all ears.