A PLANNING application has been submitted to Kerry County Council seeking permission to develop a new privately owned burial ground in Killarney.
KillarneyToday.com can reveal that the site earmarked for the development is at Lisroe, Kilcummin and there are plans for a total of 931 burial spaces.
The application has been made by husband and wife Eamon and Valerie Courtney who own and run the Killarney Oaks Hotel on Muckross Road.
The planned cemetery will also incorporate a car park, an access road and ancillary services.
If the application is successful, it will be the second privately owned cemetery in Killarney with the Aghadoe Lawn development owned and managed by members of the Duggan family.
It is understood that Killarney Town Council has also earmarked a site – believed to be in the Aghadoe area – for a new public graveyard.
There is a chronic shortage of burial spaces in the area and the local authority has been seeking suitable sites for several years without success.
The existing public graveyard in Aghadoe has reached capacity with most interments now taking place in the adjoining privately owned cemetery.
The New Cemetery, on the outskirts of town, on the main road from Madam’s Height to Kilcummin, is also very close to capacity.
Several efforts have been made to obtain land in Killarney National Park but the park authorities have been reluctant to agree, citing constraints on the uses of national parks.
Another site in Muckross was identified, in 2006, but agreement was not reached following protests from residents.
