By Sean Moriarty

Skateboarders who have been campaigning for nearly 20 years for a dedicated park for the sport have welcomed funding this week to get the project off the ground.

Kerry County Council was awarded €133,188 in funding for the Killarney Skateboard Park as part of the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme for 2022.The local authority has already identified a site on the grounds of the Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre.“I remember attending a meeting in the KDYS Killarney in 2003 when plans for the project were being discussed,” Sean Murphy, Chairperson of the Killarney Skatepark Committee, told the Killarney Advertiser.“Skateboarding and similar sports offer significant physical and mental health benefits. The addition of a skatepark will offer a healthy and safe outdoor amenity which the pandemic has shown is a really important outlet for young people.”Sean praised the efforts of local politicians, especially Cllr Donal Grady and TD Brendan Griffin for their support of the project."Through countless hours of dedicated and persistent work from Donal Grady and Brendan Griffin and other local TDs, the KDYS, Kerry County Council officials and members of the Killarney skateboarding community, the project is finally looking like it's going to proceed,” he added.