Cllr wants town park built on Killorglin land donated by the McCarthy family
NEWS that Kerry County Council (KCC) is engaging with the McCarthy family in Killorglin with an eye to developing new amenities – including, perhaps, park land and gardens – was welcomed at last Friday’s Kenmare Municipal District Meeting.
Cllr Michael Cahill (Fianna Fáil) had called on KCC to look into all funding sources and progress proposals for a town park in Killorglin, on the banks of the River Laune, donated by the McCarthy family, FEXCO’s founding family, to the council.
The land at Clooncarrig, Cllr Cahill said, consists of 14 to 15 acres and also includes buildings. He said it represents and exciting opportunity for the mid-Kerry town.
“It’s a superb site, a massive site, there are 14 or 15 acres there and old buildings on the banks of the River Laune,” Cllr Cahill told the meeting. “These are exciting times for Killorglin in the context of the €6.5million regeneration scheme. I’m asking to keep pushing the development of these lands and access any monies we can get our hands on to develop it.”
Cllr Cahill said he hopes to see the finished product connected to the South Kerry Greenway.
The council said, however, that no funding is currently allocated for a town park in Killorglin, though there may be an opportunity – through the Town and Village Renewal Scheme – to secure grants to carry out feasibility studies.
“Further engagement will continue and all options would be considered at feasibility stage including some development by the broader community itself,” the response concluded.
Separately, Cllr Cahill has called on the council to keep an eye out for funding and sites for a swimming pool in the town, echoing recent calls for such a facility in Cahersiveen.
“In both town’s cases, if the council can assist in any way in getting a public pool for these towns, it would be wonderful,” Cllr Cahill said.
“To access a pool, [currently] you have to be living in one of the main towns or cities, that’s the way it is really.”