Peter Malone My Memoirs
by Peter Malone (Kingdom Books, €25.00; all receipts will go to charity; for details contact Loretto Dalton, lorettodalton@gmail.com)
This is a delightful memoir by a proud son of Dundalk. Born in 1944, Peter Malone was educated at the Dominican Friary Primary School and St Mary’s Marist College. Both sides of his family were in the ‘pig business’.
Just as Peter completed his secondary education his father suddenly died (aged 45). To care for her seven children, Peter’s mother took in lodgers and opened a small shop.
During his school holidays Peter worked in a hotel in Bundoran owned by his aunt. He was attracted to the work and in 1964 secured a place on a management training course operated by J. Lyons & Company which ran a chain of restaurants and hotels in London.
At the conclusion of the course he began his career in the hospitality industry as restaurant manager at the company’s premises at Charing Cross. A year later he enrolled in the Shannon College of Hotel Management. After graduating he held a number of managerial appointments, including that of Pat Quinn’s PQ Club at Kilternan in Co. Dublin.
Peter’s association with the Jurys Hotels began in 1975 with his appointment as front office manager of the Ballsbridge Hotel. It marked his first step into the heart of the Irish hospitality and tourism industry. He was soon the hotel’s food and beverage manager with responsibility for the famous cabaret which was the most popular evening visitor attraction in Dublin at that time. He also had a role in popularising Gilbey’s new Irish drink: ‘Bailey’s Irish Cream’.
Following stints as general manager of Jury’s Hotel in Cork and subsequently their hotel at Ballsbridge, at the age of 45 he became CEO of Jury’s Hotel Group plc. He enthusiastically promoted the Jury’s Inn, a new competitively-priced hotel category. Thirty-five inns and hotels in Ireland, the UK and the US were added to the group. Before stepping down as CEO Peter was a key-figure in creating the merger between the Jury and Doyle hotels in the short-lived Jury-Doyle plc.
Chairman
In the last phase of his working life Peter served as chairman or board member on a number of public bodies and private companies, the most significant of these was his role as chairman of the National Roads Authority from 2002 to 2012, and as chancellor of the University of Limerick from 2007 to 2012.
Under his chairmanship the NRA completed, for the most part, on time and within budget more than 120 road projects, including a new national motorway system linking all the main population areas with roads up to the highest international standards.
In typical fashion, he shares credit for his truly remarkable stewardship at the NRA with Fred Barry, the CEO, and Charlie McGreevy, the minister for finance. During his chancellorship at the University of Limerick, he brought his business acumen to bear on the development of a number of large-scale projects.
Throughout his Memoir Peter makes it clear that, no matter how important or onerous his work commitments, his family remained his top priority. He has been and continues to be refreshingly modest and unassuming. Hence the Memoir was initially intended for just the extended family and friends.
But for the fascinating “inside story” it provides on Irish business, industry and tourism it deserves a much wider readership.