Killarney

By Sean Moriarty
<h3> Kerry County Council is to write to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage requesting that an official commitment be given to develop housing in St Finan&rsquo;s Hospital.</h3>
The move comes a few weeks after Peter Burke, the Minister of State with responsibility for Planning and Local Government, visited the site and drew comparisons with a similar State-owned idle building that is being adapted for social housing in Waterford.
 A Monday&rsquo;s monthly Kerry County Council meeting, Cllr Maura Healy-Rae called on the Council to write to the Department &ldquo;requesting an official commitment be given to develop housing in the building of St Finan&rsquo;s&#8221;.
 During the meeting she referred to recent positive commentary made by Burke following his visit.
 &ldquo;I stressed that this is something I requested in the past on numerous occasions and that St Finan&#8217;s should not be left destitute to deterioration and dereliction,&rdquo; she told the Killarney Advertiser.
 &ldquo;On such occasions Kerry County Council always stated that the financial burden would be too immense for the Local Authority to bear in order to acquire and develop this site. I stressed that there needs to be significant funding and support forthcoming from the Government or else this commentary is just idle talk which I sincerely hope it is not. As we can see from the &#8216;Housing For All&#8217; policy, the Government are encouraging people to retrofit and upgrade old buildings; the same ethos and policy should apply to State-owned buildings.&rdquo;

Councillor wants action on St Finan’s housing plan

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