Bid to keep hospital for public use

The HSE plans to sell off a Victorian-era institution in Co Kerry, but a campaign is getting under way to have it retained for public use.

St Finan’s Psychiatric Hospital, Killarney, is now completely unoccupied following the transfer of the Southdoc GP service to new offices in the town.

The landmark hospital, with 66 acres on both sides of the Killarney bypass, is in a prime location overlooking the tourist town and the future of the property is uncertain.

However, there are calls locally for it to be used for social housing, sports facilities and even a new cemetery, given that the town is running out of burial plots in existing cemeteries.

“Its location and access points make it ideally suitable for a burial ground,’’ said Kerry county councillor Brendan Cronin (Ind).

The Psychiatric Nurses’ Association (PNA) has written to Kerry public representatives asking for a public forum to be established.