News
London calling for Killarney handball stars
By Con Dennehy
London is calling for a group of Killarney handball stars who are set to take on the best handballers in Europe in May
Members of Spa Killarney Handball Club are taking part in the United Kingdom Open One Wall championships which are part of the highly prestigious European Tour which takes place at venues all over Europe.
Taking place on May 14 and 15, the event has valuable grading points on offer with newcomers Spa Killarney making their debut at the event.
They will be represented in the singles competition by Eoin O’Donoghue (Men’s C), Aoife Walsh (Ladies B), Sinead Moriarty (Ladies B) and Brendan O’Donoghue (Masters Over 45).
The sole Glenbeigh representative will be John Joe Quirke who will have a busy weekend competing in the Men’s C competition and teaming up with Brendan O’Donoghue in the Master Men Over 45 event.
“We are excited at the prospect of competing in London. As a new club the experience we gain at this level will be invaluable and help in the continued growth on the club. Hopefully we can gain some ranking points in the various grades. The competition is a group stage event comprising of three games with the top player in each group advancing to the knockout stages of the competition,” said Eoin O’Donoghue, PRO of Spa Killarney Handball Club.
Aoife Walsh, a winner at the She’s Ace Tournament in Belfast and the Spa One Wall Slam earlier in the season, is competing in the Ladies B competition and is expected to gain valuable ranking points. She teams up with Sinead Moriarty in the Ladies C Doubles where Moriarty’s recent good form and continued progress will be key to progress in this hotly contested competition.
The other Double combinations are Eoin O’Donoghue and John Joe Quirke (Men’s C) and Brendan O’Donoghue and John Joe Quirke (Master Men Over 45).
News
Developing St Finan’s “cost prohibitive” – Council
Converting the idle St Finan’s hospital into social housing is cost-prohibitive according to Kerry County council officials. The historic building has been lying idle since it closed in September 2012. […]
Converting the idle St Finan’s hospital into social housing is cost-prohibitive according to Kerry County council officials.
The historic building has been lying idle since it closed in September 2012.
The hospital and adjoining lands are up for sale by the Health Service Executive (HSE) since then.
So far no realistic offer has been made on the site despite suggestions that it could be used for social housing, a catering college and a hotel.
Each year the building, which was built in the 1850s, falls into further disrepair.
There were fresh calls again this week as local councillors called for some sort of action to redevelop the site that is fast becoming an eyesore.
At last Friday’s Killarney Municipal District meeting councillors called for action at the site .
Mayor Brendan Cronin wants the building’s protected status to be removed or at least reduced to speed up potential development work which ties in with Cllr Marie Moloney’s idea that the old hospital could be converted into apartments or flats.
Cllr John O’Donoghue wants the HSE to find a way to hand over the property to Kerry County Council either by way of reduced payment or an intra-government agency ownership change.
A Kerry County Council official told the meeting that any works to potentially convert the old hospital into social housing “would be cost prohibitive.”
News
Eight month wait for a driving test in Killarney
A Killarney councillor is calling for action in an effort to reduce the driving test wait list in Killarney The current wait list for a test in Killarney sits at […]
A Killarney councillor is calling for action in an effort to reduce the driving test wait list in Killarney
The current wait list for a test in Killarney sits at eight months.
Cllr John O’Donoghue raised the issue at Monday’s full meeting of Kerry County Council.
He proposed that driving instructors should be employed to carry out the final test to reduce the current backlog.
At Monday’s meeting he asked that hat Kerry County Council would write to the Minister for Transport to ask him to consider giving driving instructors temporary powers to issue a temporary Driving Licence/Certificate of Competence to those on the waiting list for tests.
“The wait is currently far too long and the system is in danger of becoming completely overwhelmed,” he said.
“The huge waiting list for young drivers is well documented at this stage. In a case I am familiar with, a young person passed their theory test in January 2022 and he immediately applied for his mandatory 12 driving lessons. When these were completed, he applied for his driving test on the 2nd of December 2022. Some weeks ago, he still had not received an application to apply for his driving test. This wait is placing him and his family under considerable extra cost and stress which is completely unacceptable.”
In the course of his research into the matter Cllr O’Donoghue discovered that the next available date for a driving test in Killarney is May 25, 2024, while Tralee is June 3 2024.
“Bear in mind, these are only the dates on which you receive an invitation to book your test, the test itself will then be an estimated three to five weeks later.
“This is an appalling situation and one which needs to be rectified as a matter of urgency. I am proposing that driving instructors, which presumably are fully trained up on the rules of the road, be granted temporary powers to be allowed to issue temporary driving licences to young people. When the waiting list time has been reduced, I would still propose that these people sit the test as usual, but the current pressure needs to be alleviated as soon as possible. There is precedent as I believe that in the 1970s, a cohort in this country were issued driving licences without having sat a test as the wait time for the test was too long.”
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