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“More lives will be lost” at Finnegan’s Cross

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By Sean Moriarty

Locals fear more lives will be lost unless works are urgently  done to make safety improvements to Finnegan’s Cross.in Kilcummin.

DEPUTATION: Cllr Marie Moloney brought local residents Tony Sugrue and his neighbour Tom O’Shea to a Killarney Municipal District meeting so they could air concerns about the lethal Finnegan's Cross junction.

The accident blackspot has been the scene of several serious accidents including a double fatality there in January 2020.

Elected councillors have been pushing for improvements works at the junction for years but it's been pushed back for various reasons including lack of funding, expired funding and land acquisition issues.

Frustrated by the lack of progress, Councillor Marie Moloney invited local residents to outline their concerns at Wednesday’s Killarney Municipal District Meeting.

“I could have filled the room with people spitting fire,” she said, explaining the frustration felt by people in the locality.

Retired Garda Tony Sugrue and his neighbour Tom O’Shea outlined their concerns and fears to elected councillors and members of Kerry County Council’s management executive.

Mr Sugrue, who said he was aware of two different fatal accidents in the area over the last four years, proposed that the junction coming from the Coolick side should be staggered and that the line of sight from the Lawlor’s Cross road should be extended.

During his Garda career he cited a similar issue that was prevalent in Donoughmore in County Cork and that a staggered junction eventually solved that problem.

All of the councillors gave their accounts of near misses and serious accidents in the area.

Cllr Donal Grady, who is a retired Fire Officer who worked in the Killarney district, witnessed the aftermath of several accidents there during his career.

“We are not doing enough, lives have been lost and there will be more lives lost,” he said.

Cllr Brendan Cronin said that recent road surface improvement works had actually “increased the speed of traffic" travelling towards the junction from the Lawlor’s Cross side.

“It is a very risky manoeuvre trying to cross the road there,” Cllr Cronin told the meeting, while Cllr John O’Donoghue called for a staggered junction in a similar proposition to the one made by Mr Sugrue.

Cllr Niall ‘Botty’ O’Callaghan offered to use his and his colleagues annual funding allocation to speed up works in the area.

“The locals feel nothing is being done,” Cllr Moloney added.

Killarney Municipal District Engineer, John Ahern said, in the short term, he will put "yellow bar road markings" on the approach roads but this job would require an extended spell of dry weather.

Other works in the area fell foul of very strict funding requirements. Money was allocated during previous road funding scheme allocations but the job requires land acquisition and the Council did not have the budget to both buy land and do the works under the one scheme.

He said he was very hopeful that additional funding will be made available this year under the same funding allocation. That round of funding is expected to be announced around February 15.

“It is our priority number one,” he said.

He praised locals who were engaging and receptive towards potential property acquisitions but warned that such moves take time.

Ahern was hopeful that progress would be made in the first months of this year.

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Paralympic legend Jason Smyth visits St Brendan’s

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Paralympic legend Jason Smyth visits St Brendan’s


World renowned Paralympian and world record holder Jason Smyth paid a visit to St Brendan’s College on Wednesday afternoon as part of a high profile visit to Killarney.


The six time Paralympic gold medallist spoke to second year students from St Brendan’s College, alongside students from neighbouring schools St Brigid’s Presentation Secondary School and Killarney Community College.
The interactive talk and interview took place ahead of World Sight Day, with the legendary sprinter sharing his personal journey with Stargardt disease, a genetic eye condition that left him legally blind at eight years old.
The Derry native, who holds the world record as the fastest Paralympian on earth over 100 metres, offered inspiring insights into overcoming physical adversity and achieving success at the highest level of world sport.
The school visit formed the opening leg of his Killarney schedule before he took centre stage later on Wednesday evening at The Killarney Plaza Hotel & Spa.
Smyth headlined An Evening with Paralympian Jason Smyth, an event organised by the Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce as part of its winter schedule, sponsored by AIB.

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Deerpark Retail Park placed on market for fifteen million euro

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Deerpark Retail Park in Killarney has officially been placed on the market with a guide price in excess of 15.4 million euro, excluding VAT.

International real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield has been appointed as the sole sales agent to handle the high-profile commercial property sale on behalf of its current owner, Investcorp.

Investcorp, a global investment management firm headquartered in Bahrain, had previously acquired the prominent shopping complex.


The sale represents one of the largest commercial property offerings to launch in County Kerry this year.

Located roughly 1.3 kilometres west of Killarney town centre, the scheme enjoys strong regional connectivity and sits adjacent to independently owned operations including a Tesco Extra store, a Tesco petrol filling station, JYSK, and Aldi.


Constructed in 2006, the development extends across approximately 10,482 square metres, or 112,835 square feet.

The scheme comprises a mix of modern retail warehouse units and a complementary neighbourhood centre, offering 13 individual units in total with Part Open and Part Bulky Use planning permission.

The units range in size from 94.6 square metres up to 1,994.9 square metres. Visitors have access to approximately 248 customer parking spaces across the commercial grounds.

The park is currently 100 per cent occupied by a strong line-up of established national and international brands.

Key retail tenants include Marks & Spencer, Boots, DID Electrical, Maxi Zoo, and Mountain Warehouse.

The neighbourhood centre element accommodates service and convenience operators such as Costa Coffee, Card Factory, and Salon B.

The first-floor accommodation is fully let to Peak Performance Academy, which provides additional rental diversification.

Additionally, the scheme benefits from an agreement with Tesla to operate eight electric vehicle charging bays within the customer car park.


Commercial figures show that the property generates a total current rental income of 1,326,458 euro per annum, with a weighted average unexpired lease term of 4.45 years to break options and 6.46 years to lease expiry.

Cushman & Wakefield noted that the quoted guide price of 15.4 million euro reflects a net initial yield of 7.83 per cent, assuming standard purchaser costs of 9.96 per cent.

The selling agents highlighted that the fully occupied asset offers investors an attractive income profile alongside scope for additional income generation through parking commercialisation.

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