This week marks the end of an era as the last two remaining Sisters have departed the Presentation Convent in Killarney for the last time. 

For nearly 230 years, since the first two Sisters arrived in 1793 to establish a convent and school, the Presentation Sisters have played an important role, educating, and supporting those in need in Killarney.

It was the first community of Presentation Sisters outside of the founding community in Cork, and their mission was to expand and continue the work of their founder Nano Nagle, which was to provide education to Catholic children, which was forbidden at the time by the Penal Laws.

In 1800 a primary school was established, and by 1826 over 350 pupils were enrolled.

In 1875 the current Presentation Convent was built.

The three-storey building includes a six-bay double height Gothic Revival style chapel and is of significant historical importance and is a listed building, with many of the original features of the building both internally and externally still intact and protected.

In 1948 a secondary school was founded, with the current St Brigid’s Presentation Secondary School building commencing construction two years later. This building is still in use with a further extension added to the school in 1984.

While there is sadness with the Sisters departing, it also heralds an exciting time for St Brigid’s as land which was part of the Convent grounds, has been gifted for a proposed new school, as the demand for places has outgrown its current accommodation.

It is hoped that this generous gift will ensure that the legacy of Nano Nagle and the Presentation ethos will live on into the future in Killarney and beyond.

As the focus now is on the development of this new school, there are no immediate plans for the future of the Convent building and the remaining grounds.