GAA club plea as Church sells land to highest bidder

A controversial site which has divided a community has been sold to the highest bidder by the Diocese of Kerry, against the wishes of the local GAA club.

The announcement was made at evening Mass in Kilgarvan on Saturday by Fr Donal O’Neill, who acknowledged that “some people would be disappointed” by the decision.

The Church had previously been warned that the decision to sell the local presbytery and adjoining 12 acres of land to anyone other that the GAA could recreate scenes from John B Keane’s drama The Field.

The local GAA club had asked the Church to allow it to buy enough of the land to redevelop its adjoining pitch. Failing that, the club offered €205,000 for the site — but this was below the €230,000 asking price.

The property was sold for €258,000, the Church confirmed on Saturday. In a statement on the diocesan website, the Church said it “has been obliged to attain the market value for the property and has achieved this by selling to the highest bidder in the process”.

All money from the sale would be available to the parish for faith-led facilities.

“We wish to acknowledge that this decision will disappoint some who had hoped for another outcome,” it said.

The property is owned by St Brendan’s Trust, a limited company. The trust is the legal entity which holds title to Catholic Church property in the diocese’s 53 parishes, including churches, presbyteries, schools, parish halls and land. St Brendan’s Trust is a registered charity and is subject to the requirements of the Charities Acts.

All disposals of assets of a charity must have the approval of the Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests.

Kilgarvan GAA chairman Tom Randles appealed to the Bishop of Kerry to reconsider the decision to sell the property, claiming the club had been treated badly.

“Deals have been announced before and they have been broken. We are still appealing to the bishop and St Brendan’s Trust before they’ll sign this deal into law that they will reconsider and give up the piece of ground on behalf of the community and the youth of the parish.”

It is thought the buyer is from the area but no longer lives in the village.

Members of the Healy-Rae family were believed to have been interested in buying the property.

Councillor Danny Healy-Rae diplomatically offered the buyer every good wish.

“The land is still there. It’s not after evaporating. I would be hopeful the new owner would give consideration to a site for a community hall as well as a GAA pitch.”

The existing GAA grounds, on land adjoining the presbytery, were bought from the Church in the 1970s. The club began its attempt to purchase extra land from the Church five years ago and believed it had a deal, Mr Randles said.