Killarney

By Sean Moriarty
<h3>The Health Service Executive&rsquo;s decision to handover a group of derelict houses to Fingal County Council for social housing sets a precedent that could be applied to St Finan&rsquo;s Hospital.</h3>
That is according to Cllr Marie Moloney who, along with all her elected colleagues, have been pushing to find a solution for&nbsp;the site that has been vacant since 2012.
There is a dire need for housing in the Killarney area but despite several ideas put forward to do something with St Finan&rsquo;s, so far, nothing has come to fruition.
This week 14 one hundred-year-old derelict cottages were handed over to Fingal County Council.
The north County Dublin houses were previously used to house staff at the nearby St Ita&rsquo;s psychiatric hospital.
They have been vacant for over 20 years and have fallen in to a state of disrepair but Fingal County Council plans to turn them into social housing under a &euro;4 million restoration plan.
The HSE maintains that the St Finan&rsquo;s site is for sale at the full market value but so far no realistic bidder has emerged.
&ldquo;If the HSE can do it there they can do it here in Killarney,&rdquo; Cllr Moloney told the Killarney Advertiser.
&ldquo;It is not beyond the bounds of possibility.&rdquo;
While welcoming the construction of the new community hospital on the grounds of St Finan&rsquo;s she has raised concerns that the HSE have yet to reveal plans for the existing District Hospital on St Margaret&rsquo;s Road.
Killarney has had more than its fair share of abandoned buildings in recent years, but plans are now in place to redevelop the &Aacute;ras P&aacute;draig and Kerry ETB has ambitions to build a college campus on the site of the old Pretty Polly factory.
&ldquo;The last thing Killarney needs is another idle building.&nbsp;I don&rsquo;t know what the big secret is but the HSE won&rsquo;t tell us what their plans are for the District Hospital. It is all cloak and dagger.&rdquo;

Dublin's social housing plans set precedent for St Finan’s site

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