Locations offered for decentralisation

A CHOICE of locations is being offered for decentralised Government offices in Killarney, Co Kerry.

Local estate agents have been busy making contact with the Department of Arts, Sport and Culture saying they have office accommodation for the 140 civil servants who will moving to Killarney when the entire department is transferred to the town.

When the accounts section of the Department of Justice was decentralised to Killarney in the early 1990s, a new office complex was built on a green field site, off the northern bypass.

There are now about 150 civil servants in those offices.

However, a number of existing buildings and developed sites in Killarney are now being mentioned as likely locations for the new decentralisation - due to take place within three years.

St Finan's Psychiatric Hospital is due to be put up for sale by the Southern Health Board in the next few years and property sources say some of the hospital buildings could be converted into office accommodation.

That would be similar to the successful conversion of the former St Catherine's Hospital in Tralee to offices for Kerry County Council some years ago.

Also the former Torc Great Southern Hotel, which was purchased by a Limerick property developer, last July for around €8m might also be redeveloped as Government offices.

The Torc building is within walking distance of the centre of Killarney and is adjacent to Killarney railway station.

There's also a new office building, erected by a number of local investors, which was recently completed in a Killarney industrial estate.

Meanwhile, the 50 Department of Finance staff due to be transferred to Listowel will probably require offices in a green field site, according to local councillor Ned O'Sullivan.