By Sean Moriarty

Kerry County Council is to write to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage requesting that an official commitment be given to develop housing in St Finan’s Hospital.

The move comes a few weeks after Peter Burke, the Minister of State with responsibility for Planning and Local Government, visited the site and drew comparisons with a similar State-owned idle building that is being adapted for social housing in Waterford.

A Monday’s monthly Kerry County Council meeting, Cllr Maura Healy-Rae called on the Council to write to the Department “requesting an official commitment be given to develop housing in the building of St Finan’s".

During the meeting she referred to recent positive commentary made by Burke following his visit.

“I stressed that this is something I requested in the past on numerous occasions and that St Finan's should not be left destitute to deterioration and dereliction,” she told the Killarney Advertiser.

“On such occasions Kerry County Council always stated that the financial burden would be too immense for the Local Authority to bear in order to acquire and develop this site. I stressed that there needs to be significant funding and support forthcoming from the Government or else this commentary is just idle talk which I sincerely hope it is not. As we can see from the 'Housing For All' policy, the Government are encouraging people to retrofit and upgrade old buildings; the same ethos and policy should apply to State-owned buildings.”