What happened in Kerry this week
Criticism is mounting over Kerry County Council’s failure to have the new water sports facility at Fenit open at the height of the summer season with one prominent campaigner asking: “Why are we waiting? Open the gates and let us in!”
An operating theatre attendant in Tralee’s Bon Secours Hospital gave patients an unusual treatment last Tuesday - the silent kind, by not uttering a single word - but it was all for a very good cause.
One of Kerry’s smallest but mightiest rugby clubs is paying tribute to one of its stalwarts who is taking a break from club commitments after 17 years of promoting rugby and fostering a love of the sport in young people in South Kerry.
Fr Mossie Brick was given a warm send-off as parishioners packed the Church of St Stephen and St John in Castleisland for his retirement Mass last Friday, to celebrate his more than five decades of service as a priest.
Read the full story in Kerry’s Eye Digital Edition.
At home with GAA’s greatest rivals
The All-Ireland Senior Football Semi-Final between Kerry and Dublin is just days away and one West Kerry couple are keeping one of GAA’s greatest rivalries alive and well under the same roof.
While Kerry supporters across the county are eagerly preparing for Sunday’s 4pm throw-in, Fiona Dowling will be making the journey back to her native Dublin to cheer on the Boys in Blue, leaving her Kerry partner, Sean Brendan Ó Conchúir, to hold the fort at the family business.
Seán runs Tigh TP’s Bar and Restaurant in Spa, Ballydavid, since taking over from his father at the age of 21, and will be holding down the fort while Fiona joins her Dublin family for the game.
Read the full story in Kerry’s Eye Digital Edition.
New careers for Down Syndrome Kerry members
Two members of Down Syndrome Kerry have successfully secured employment with Lidl in Listowel through a new partnership programme being rolled out around the county to create meaningful employment opportunities for adults with Down Syndrome.
The two new employees are Donal Lynch and Paul Scanlon and Operations Manager at Down Syndrome Kerry, Siobhan Walsh, said that this new collaboration between Lidl Ireland and Down Syndrome Ireland, through the National Employment Partnership, marks another positive step forward in creating exciting employment and career opportunities for adults with Down Syndrome here in Kerry.
Speaking about the new initiative, Siobhan explained that: “It is an important pathway for advocacy and inclusion through Down Syndrome Ireland, and our National Employment Programme.”
Read the full story in Kerry’s Eye Digital Edition.
Tralee teen breaking into business
The ink has hardly dried on his Leaving Cert exam papers yet Tralee teen Joshua O’Connor is already working towards his future by setting up his own business.
The 17-year-old, who only recently completed his Leaving Certificate exams with CBS The Green, set up his own business last January.
Despite not having any entrepreneurial experience, the determined Tralee teen decided that he wanted to be his own boss - and his friends’ personal experiences provided him with his business idea.
Joshua is the founder of TradeLink, a platform based here in Kerry that helps connect apprentices, qualified tradespeople and employers across Ireland.
Read the full story in Kerry’s Eye Digital Edition.
Valentia records hottest June day ever
THE fine spell of summer weather continues this week, and it will come as no surprise that Kerry’s main weather station, the Valentia Observatory, recorded its hottest June day in history with a searing reading of 28.5°C.
Although just 0.1°C higher than the previous record reading of 28.4°C for June, set back in the summer of 2018, a new record was set on Thursday, June 25 last.
And despite the hot spell of weather towards the end of the month, Met Éireann’s monthly climate statement for June also shows that Valentia Observatory recorded the joint-highest number of ‘dull days’ - a day with less than 0.5 hours of sunshine - with six such days recorded last month, along with the weather station at Johnstown Castle in Wexford.
Read the full story in Kerry’s Eye Digital Edition.
Blasket caretaker captures Great Blasket on canvas
Tralee artist James Hayes unveiled a new solo exhibition in Tralee this month which draws on his experience of living on one of Ireland’s most remote islands as caretaker of the Great Blasket.
The exhibition, titled ‘On the Edge and In-Between’, opened at Siamsa Tíre last weekend and is inspired by the months James and his wife Camille Rosenfeld spent as caretakers of the Great Blasket Island during the 2025 season.
James’ collection captures the dramatic landscape, isolation and changing rhythms of life on the West Kerry island, with James using his time on the Blaskets as the inspiration for a new body of work created in his studio over recent months.
Read the full story in Kerry’s Eye Digital Edition.
5,000 cyclists take on the Ring of Kerry
An astounding 5,000 cyclists took to the roads of Kerry last weekend for the annual Ring of Kerry charity cycle, with Irish sporting stars joining participants from across the country for one of Ireland’s best-known fundraising events.
Among those at the start line in Killarney for the 44th year of the event, were Irish Olympians David Gillick and Sonia O’Sullivan, while Tour de France rider Sam Bennett greeted cyclists at the finish, where he was pictured with Antony and Denis Cronin.
Another familiar face out on the road was Anto ‘Butch’ Cronin, who took on all 170km of the Ring’s route atop his Penny Farthing bike as he heroically completed a challenge that’s been described as “like running a half marathon backwards.”
Read the full story in Kerry’s Eye Digital Edition.
