Council-run attractions lose €3.7m

HUGE LOSSES AT KILLARNEY SPORTS COMPLEX AND TRALEE’S WETLANDS

THE Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre and the Tralee Bay Wetlands Centre – both owned and operated by Kerry County Council – are running at massive losses according to a new Government audit of the council’s finances.

In their report on Kerry County Council’s (KCC) 2017 finances, auditors from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government expressed concern about ongoing losses at the attractions.

According to the audit report, Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre – which cost €16 million to build and opened in 2009 – was sitting on accumulated losses of €2.98 million at the end of 2016, the last year for which full figures are available.

That year the centre recorded an annual loss of €284,000 which represented a slight improvement on 2015 when a €349,000 loss was recorded.

In 2017, KCC pumped €135,000 in to the centre to help cover operating costs. KCC accounts show that the council continues to fund the repayment of loans at the facility which, as of the end of 2017, stood at €662,000.

Meanwhile the Tralee Bay Wetlands Centre is also suffering significant ongoing losses and as of the end of 2017 there was an accumulated deficit of €755,000. That year, KCC paid out €101,000 to cover operating costs at the centre.

In 2016 the centre suffered losses of €168,000 and in 2015 there were losses of €135,000.

The Department auditors said that “proposals would have to be formulated and implemented” to address the losses at both facilities.