Hermit 'nuns' clear site of unauthorised prayer retreat in West Cork

The 'nuns', members of the Carmelite Nuns of the Holy Face of Jesus, have also paid €1,000 in fines and legal costs to Cork County Council over the planning breach at the site near Leap.

Judge James McNulty heard last September that while “significant” downsizing at the site had taken place, the women were still resident there and had had little success in their plans to relocate.

Hermit 'nuns' who had established an unauthorised prayer retreat near Leap in West Cork have cleared the site, bar a wooden fence, and are to pay €1,000 in fines and legal costs to Cork County Council.

Sr Irene Gibson, who says she is a Carmelite Nun of the Holy Face of Jesus, had been convicted of a breach of Section 154 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, in late 2019 in relation to an unauthorised development at Corran South near the village of Leap in West Cork.