CREDIT CRUNCH or no credit crunch, AIB has decided to press ahead with a plan to take "major customers" to Louisville, Kentucky, later this month on a corporate jolly for the 37th edition of the Ryder Cup.
About 80 lucky guests will be travelling to the US with AIB's Irish division for the biennial event, where double major winner Pádraig Harrington and debutant Graeme McDowell will represent this island on Nick Faldo's European team as it seeks to retain the trophy.
We understand provisional invites were sent to AIB's chosen customers recently, with the caveat the trip might be declared out of bounds given the economic environment and other considerations.
A spokesperson for AIB said the trip had been put through a rigorous "budgeting process" and has been cleared for tee-off.
AIB has been taking guests to the Ryder Cup for the past decade and was a tournament sponsor when the golf jamboree was hosted at Michael Smurfit's K-Club in Kildare in 2006.
AIB declined to comment on the cost of the trip. Judging by the website for the Ryder Cup, it will set the Ballsbridge-based bank back a pretty buck.
A "Champions Club Table" for 10 people is advertised at $55,000 (€38,000) plus sales taxes. That covers the five days of the event from September 16th to 21st. A "Hospitality Chalet" for 150 people, which can be shared with other companies, costs $500,000.
And that's to say nothing of flights and accommodation.
But at least the dollar is weak against the euro and AIB could well have negotiated a discount on its corporate package given the global economic downturn on corporate spending.
Recent reports have suggested sales of corporate packages have been below par thanks to the credit crunch.
