Acclaimed Kerry screenwriter Ailbhe Keogan has won the Best TV Drama Script award at the 19th Writers’ Guild of Ireland Zebbie Awards in Dublin.

Keogan, who also serves as Chair of the upcoming Kerry International Film Festival (KIFF) running from 15 to 18 October, received the prestigious honour at a ceremony held in the Light House Cinema.

She took home the award for her screen adaptation of Louise Kennedy’s novel Trespasses, which she brought to television as a four-part limited series for Channel 4.

Originally from Tralee and now living in Castlegregory, Keogan was presented with the award by Dee Roycroft for writing the final episode of the critically acclaimed drama, seeing off competition from nominees Jo Spain (Mix Tape) and the writing duo Mary Fox and Marty Thornton (Hidden Assets).

The Zebbie Awards, named in honour of actor O.Z. Whitehead, celebrate the finest Irish writing talent across television, film, theatre, and radio.

The major national win comes at a busy time for the local writer as she prepares to lead the Kerry International Film Festival when it returns to Killarney next month.

Ailbhe Keogan scoops top television writing award

Acclaimed Kerry screenwriter Ailbhe Keogan has won the Best TV Drama Script award at the 19th Writers’ Guild of Ireland Zebbie Awards in Dublin.

Keogan, who also serves as Chair of the upcoming Kerry International Film Festival (KIFF) running from 15 to 18 October, received the prestigious honour at a ceremony held in the Light House Cinema.
She took home the award for her screen adaptation of Louise Kennedy’s novel Trespasses, which she brought to television as a four-part limited series for Channel 4.
Originally from Tralee and now living in Castlegregory, Keogan was presented with the award by Dee Roycroft for writing the final episode of the critically acclaimed drama, seeing off competition from nominees Jo Spain (Mix Tape) and the writing duo Mary Fox and Marty Thornton (Hidden Assets).
The Zebbie Awards, named in honour of actor O.Z. Whitehead, celebrate the finest Irish writing talent across television, film, theatre, and radio.
The major national win comes at a busy time for the local writer as she prepares to lead the Kerry International Film Festival when it returns to Killarney next month.

Acclaimed Kerry screenwriter Ailbhe Keogan has won the Best TV Drama Script award at the 19th Writers’ Guild of Ireland Zebbie Awards in Dublin.

Keogan, who also serves as Chair of the upcoming Kerry International Film Festival (KIFF) running from 15 to 18 October, received the prestigious honour at a ceremony held in the Light House Cinema.
She took home the award for her screen adaptation of Louise Kennedy’s novel Trespasses, which she brought to television as a four-part limited series for Channel 4.
Originally from Tralee and now living in Castlegregory, Keogan was presented with the award by Dee Roycroft for writing the final episode of the critically acclaimed drama, seeing off competition from nominees Jo Spain (Mix Tape) and the writing duo Mary Fox and Marty Thornton (Hidden Assets).
The Zebbie Awards, named in honour of actor O.Z. Whitehead, celebrate the finest Irish writing talent across television, film, theatre, and radio.
The major national win comes at a busy time for the local writer as she prepares to lead the Kerry International Film Festival when it returns to Killarney next month.

Kerry County Council has been awarded €150,000 in government funding to progress a Masterplan and Infrastructure Delivery Plan for the St Finan’s Hospital landbank.

The money forms part of a broader regeneration package announced by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage under Category 1A of the Towns and Cities Regeneration Investment Fund, which targets longer-term projects for delivery in the later years of the National Development Plan.

The funding will allow Kerry County Council to establish a long-term development roadmap for the 30-acre state-owned property, which has remained largely vacant since the psychiatric hospital closed its doors in 2012.

The masterplan will evaluate access roads, water capacity, and core utility infrastructure needed to unlock the site. It will also establish a formal framework between Kerry County Council, the HSE as property owners, and the Land Development Agency to prepare the location for future statutory consents and funding applications.

Research into the site shows the property is divided into distinct challenges. Land Development Agency reports identified the overall campus as public land capable of delivering between 330 and 460 affordable homes on surrounding open ground at an estimated cost of up to €174 million.

However, the main Victorian building is a protected structure. Upgrading or converting the historic facility alone is estimated to cost upwards of €100 million.

Because of these high refurbishment costs, recent state assessments proposed splitting the site, with the Land Development Agency focusing on developing 6.6 hectares of open land while leaving the HSE to find alternative uses for the main hospital building.

The HSE has previously expressed a preference to dispose of the entire campus as a single unit.

The new €150,000 allocation will directly fund the technical, design, and structural assessments required to align these state bodies and clear a path for future housing and community infrastructure on the site.