Construction workers have been laid off after work on a €50 million west Cork building restoration project - billed as one of the largest in Irish history - shut its doors to the public last week.

It will now lie idle indefinitely after the renovation works at Dunboy Castle near Castletownbere, Co Cork, ground to a halt after investment dried up leaving the 18th-century Puxley Mansion 90% complete.

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The Irish Times has reported that the castle refurbishment was intended to be Ireland's first six-star hotel and included a complete renovation of the mansion in the grounds of 15thcentury Dunboy Castle, seat of the O'Sullivan Beara clan.

The mansion was left a skeleton after being burned down by the IRA in 1921. Bought by four local businessmen in 1999, the coastal manor was to be redeveloped in conjunction with a large professional hotel group. They secured a developer, Dublin-based Cap Partners, and sold their interest in the property.

Renovation work on the mansion, due to open in 2009, was almost completed, with the great baronial hall restored to its previous magnificence, but work was suspended in early 2010.

(BMcC/GK)