Demand High For Dublin Convention Center Even Before It Opens

New York—As part of a $6 billion investment in meeting venues across Ireland, the soon-to-be-complete Convention Centre Dublin plans to hold its first event in July, ahead of its official September opening, tourism and city officials said here this week. The convention center is the first purpose-built international convention venue in the Irish Republic.

The convention center is targeting conferences of up to 8,000 attendees, according to the center's senior account director, Marie Lawlor. The convention center, which is located on the redeveloped docklands area on the north side of the River Liffey, has 22 meeting rooms, a 2,000-seat auditorium, 4,500 square meters of exhibit space and banquet facilities for up to 3,000 people. It has about 250 full-time employees.

The convention center already has 40 events on the books through 2014, 25 of which have more than 750 attendees, said Lawlor. Organizations with events already booked at the convention center include The International Conference of Emergency Medicine, The International Statistical Institute and The European Society for Biomaterials Conference.

In an effort to broaden its appeal to the larger meetings industry, the city has been ramping up its hotel capacity. In the past several years, it has increased its number of rooms by 3,000 to 20,000, said Dublin Convention Bureau manager Miriam Kennedy. Plans for a convention center hotel are in development, but the identity of the hotel company to be build the property has not been announced.