Interest expressed in vacant Killarney hospital

A local authority has expressed a “strategic interest” in acquiring a vacant HSE-owned hospital.

Kerry Co Council is also negotiating for a land surplus at the 30-acre St Finan’s Hospital in Killarney.

However, the council has not given any firm commitment to acquire the Harry Potter-type grey limestone building that has dramatic views over Killarney’s lakes and fells. The Victorian building, one of the best designed of its kind and listed for preservation, will be disposed of to the private sector if no state agency agrees to take it over, the HSE confirmed. It is one of 15 HSE buildings vacant in the old health board region of Cork and Kerry.