A Killarney county councillor has reacted to the revelation that Kerry County Council spent nearly €900,000 preparing plans for the spurned Áras Phádraig project.
That's according to figures released to the Irish Examiner.
Labour councillor Marie Moloney said it was a lot of money, but added she was hopeful that scrapped Áras Phádraig plans could still be valid if another public building replaces the rejected primary healthcare centre.
Councillor Moloney also said that the HSE’s plans for a primary healthcare centre hopefully could be used on a new site at St Finian's.
Kerry County Council spent almost €867,926 preparing plans for the Áras Phádraig project in Killarney before they were scrapped by councillors, according to the Irish Examiner.
The proposal was four years in the making, and included external consultants' fees and an estimated equivalent of nine months full-time work by an internal senior engineer and senior executive engineer.
In February, councillors originally voted through the €50 million plans to develop a theatre and primary care centre at the Áras Phádraig site.
However, after it was learned that some public submissions had erroneously not been put before the council at the time, submissions were reopened.
In total, over 160 public comments were received, most of which were against the plans.
In July, all seven Killarney MD councillors rejected the CEO’s recommendation for redeveloping the Áras Phádraig site and said they would look for a library, offices, and a larger theatre instead of the HSE primary care centre.
Management told councillors said that there was no guarantee funding could be secured for this new proposal.
