Parish faces into future without a priest

THE parish of Allihies on the Beara Peninsula is steeped in history, with a mining heritage that goes back to the Bronze Age.

But it’s about to enter the history books for another reason. In a few weeks’ time it will become the first parish in the Kerry Diocese not to have a resident priest.

There are no longer enough priests to go around and Beara, half in Cork, half in Kerry and sparsely populated on both sides, is considered able to survive the removal of one priest and have the remaining three between them minister to the peninsula’s four parishes.