HSE to sell former psychiatric hospital and grounds in Killarney 

St Finan's Hospital in Killarney. The limestone building and farm opened as the Killarney and District Lunatic Asylum in 1850. Picture: Eamonn Keogh

The HSE has announced it is disposing of the landmark St Finan’s psychiatric hospital and lands in Killarney, and will put it on the open market if the Land Development agency has no use for the property.

The former hospital and 30 acres were previously offered to Kerry County Council as well as the Munster Institute of Technology. 

The HSE confirmed its plans to sell the property after an update was sought by Kerry County Councillor Jackie Healy-Rae at the first meeting of the new Regional Health Forum Southwest.

The HSE told the meeting it is in discussions with the LDA, with respect to the future of the facility and lands.  The LDA review will include the development capacity, potential costs, risks, and the fundamental viability of any project along with funding demands.

Maintenance works to the hospital's existing structures are ongoing, and a new as yet unopened community nursing unit occupies some of the site.

Councillors said they want to see the building and land to remain in public ownership and not be sold to private interests.

But they were told that while the c29 acres of land was of interest to the LDA, the costs of converting the listed building to housing were "enormous".

Killarney town manager Martin O’Donoghue said the cost of converting the protected structure was estimated at a minimum of €100m.

The limestone building and farm opened as the Killarney and District Lunatic Asylum in 1850.

The building has been idle since 2012, and local politicians have long called for the land to be developed for housing, in line with St Kevin's in Cork, and for the building which once housed hundreds of patients to be converted to apartments, a college, or a health centre.

The council in Killarney has previously sought to remove it from the list of protected structures to make it easier to renovate into apartments. However this move was rejected by council management.

• This article was funded by the Local Democracy Scheme.