A valuation of the former St Finan's Hospital is being prepared for a potential transfer of the property to Kerry County Council for long-awaited social housing in Killarney.
Records released to Radio Kerry News under the Freedom of Information Act show Kerry County Council made confidential, informal enquiries about acquiring the property as far back as January last year.
The former mental health hospital closed in 2012 and has lain idle since, having been offered to all state bodies in the middle of the last decade.
Kerry County Council previously indicated that the development of the property, a protected structure, would cost over €100 million, which is beyond the scope of the local authority.
Condition reports from the site from the last five years indicate the historic building complex is almost entirely intact, and the building’s main structure appears to be in reasonable condition for its age.
Records released to Radio Kerry show Kerry County Council did not have an interest in acquiring the whole property, when it was offered to all state agencies as one lot in 2017.
In 2018, a valuation of the property was prepared for potential transfer to the former IT Tralee, which had formally expressed an interest, but no sale progressed.
In 2021, the former mental health hospital was prepared for sale to the public, as the HSE engaged a tender for auctioneers to progress the sale.
The HSE received tender offers from 11 private auctioneers to progress the sale in December 2021, but in January 2022 the council informally registered its interest, and followed this up with formal communication the following day.
This followed initial discussions between the council and the Land Development Agency, and the council noted there would be considerable constraints and considerations to be dealt with before any movement would or could happen.
The council requested floor plans of the buildings, a map of the site, and any condition surveys, for confidential review by the council and the LDA during an exploratory period of eight to ten weeks.
Correspondence in January 2023 shows the HSE was still awaiting formal instructions from the council on its expression of interest in the property with the LDA, and the HSE had tried to contact a council representative a number of times by phone, to provide an update.
A valuation of the property was then formally sought by the HSE in January of this year, on the basis Kerry County Council had expressed an interest in purchasing it.
A draft valuation report was due to be issued to the HSE by 19th May this year; Radio Kerry understands the draft report has been completed, and a final report will be sent to the council in a matter of weeks.
A report prepared by the OPW in 2018, after it had been offered the lands, noted the greatest threat to the property is vacancy, but the building complex is almost entirely intact.
A condition report, carried out by engineers in March last year for the purposes of insurance cover, found the main structure appear to be in reasonable condition for its age.
