The HSE has spent over €900,000 on the upkeep of the former mental health hospital St Finan’s in Killarney since it closed.
The facility closed in September 2012, and has lain idle since despite attempts to find other uses for the buildings and lands.
A significant amount of the HSE’s spending on St Finan’s since it closed has been on roof repairs, particularly following storms.
Records released to Radio Kerry under the Freedom of Information Act show the HSE spent over €63,000 on the premises in 2013, including more than €39,500 on the retro fit of a fire alarm panel.
Over €142,000 was spent by the HSE on the St Finan’s campus in 2014, including almost €30,000 on installing a CCTV system, and almost €30,000 on security fencing, gates, removing fire escapes, and mesh windows.
The Executive spent €28,700 on installing CCTV in the O’Connor unit in 2017, five years after the facility closed.
Maintenance of the grounds has been costing the HSE €10,000 each year since 2020, while the Executive spent almost €25,000 on repairing and upgrading the CCTV system at St Finan’s in 2021.
The HSE spent a further €23,800 on adjustments to security fencing and extending fencing in 2022, and another €24,000 securing windows the same year.
The HSE has spent over a quarter of a million euro on St Finan’s in the last three years alone.
Across 2024 and 2025, the HSE spent over €100,000 on roof repairs to St Finan’s.
All of the above figures are exclusive of VAT, meaning the total spend since the start of 2013 is over €907,000.
The Land Development Agency has formally expressed an interest in acquiring half of the St Finan’s site, but it does not want to acquire the hospital buildings.
The LDA, which is tasked with building affordable housing on state-owned lands, said that the former hospital building itself is a protected structure and not suitable for conversion to residential use.
Radio Kerry understands the HSE would rather sell the entire site than be left with the derelict hospital buildings.
The LDA is progressing a review of the buildings and landbank with Kerry County Council, and it has told the council it’s keen to support partners in exploring other potential uses for the hospital building to facilitate development of the overall site.
