Killarney ( ) is a town in
County
Kerry
, southwestern Ireland
. The town is located north of the MacGillicuddy
Reeks
, on the northeastern shore of the Lough
Lein/Leane
which are part of Killarney
National Park
. The town and its surrounding region is home
to St. Mary's Cathedral
, Ross
Castle
, Muckross
Abbey
, Torc Waterfall and
Gap of
Dunloe
.
Killarney was awarded the "Best Kept Town" award for 2007 in a
cross-border competition jointly organised by the Department of the
Environment and the Northern Ireland Amenity Council.
Owing to its natural
heritage, history and proximity to the Dingle Peninsula
, Skellig
Michael
island and its location on the Ring of Kerry, Killarney is a popular tourist
destination.
Transport
Killarney
is served by National Primary
Route N22 (north to Tralee
and Castleisland
and east to Cork
); the
National
Secondary Route N72 (west to
Killorglin
) and the N71
(south to Bantry
).
There are
train services to Tralee, Limerick
, Cork and Dublin
operated by
Iarnród Éireann.
Bus Éireann provides bus services to
Limerick (and onwards to Dublin), Tralee, Cork, Kenmare
and Skibbereen
. Killarney railway station opened
on 15 July 1853.
Kerry Airport
, in Farranfore
between Tralee and
Killarney, provides an increasing number of air services.
Cork Airport
, easily accessible by bus or rail, also serves the
Kerry region.
Sport
Association football
Killarney has two
association
football clubs—both of which compete in the Kerry District
League.
Killarney Athletic was founded in 1965. Originally the club played
in the centre of Killarney, but have since moved to a modern
facility (with two pitches) in the Woodlawn area of the town.
Killarney Celtic was founded in 1976. The club purchased their own
ground in 1993 and have invested in their facilities since then.
There are two grass pitches (one floodlit to match standard) and a
70 x 35 metre synthetic training pitch which is also fully
floodlit.
Gaelic games
Killarney has three
Gaelic football
teams:
Dr. Crokes,
Killarney Legion and
Spa. The rural hinterland has a large number of
football teams, such as Kilcummin, Fossa, Firies, Glenflesk and
Gneeveguilla. All these teams compete in the Kerry County league
and the
East
Kerry Senior Football Championship (O'Donoghue Cup) and
league.
Dr Crokes are the most successful of these teams, with the most
notable triumphs being the capture of the
All-Ireland Senior
Club Football Championship in 1992 and the
Munster Senior Club
Football Championship in 1991 and 1990. The club has also won
the
County
Championship on 6 separate occasions, the last being in 2000.
Dr Crokes are the only club in Killarney with a
hurling team, which has had some important
successes, most recently winning the
Kerry Intermediate
Hurling Championship in 1999 and 2001.
Rowing
There are six active
rowing clubs in
the town, who share a common history in Ireland's oldest surviving
regatta, the Killarney Regatta, which is held annually on the first
or second Sunday in July. The six clubs are Commercial RC
(Killarney), Flesk Valley RC, Fossa RC, Muckross RC, St. Brendan's
RC and Workmen RC. The style of rowing seen at the regatta is
traditional, fixed seat rowing in wide, wooden 6 person boats.
Since the eighties, a number of the clubs have moved toward coastal
type rowing and modern 'slide' or Olympic style rowing.
Muckross Rowing Club is the largest and most successful of the
clubs, having developed into a full time 'sliding' club with 24
National Championships (since 1996) at various levels from Junior
to Senior. A number of members of the club have also been selected
to row for Ireland and have competed successfully at the
Home International Regatta,
Coupe de la Jeunesse,
World Rowing Championships and
Olympic Games. Paul Griffin and Sean
Casey, members of Muckross Rowing Club and Cathal Moynihan, a
former member, are Olympic and Irish World Championship rowers.
Paul Griffin, racing in Irish Mens Lightweight Four, finished sixth
at the
2004 Olympic Games in
Athens, won a silver medal at the 2005 World Championships and a
bronze at the 2006 World Championships. As a member of the
Lightweight Four, Paul was overall category winner of the 2006
World Cup Rowing series. Sean Casey represented Ireland in the Mens
Heavyweight Four at the
2008 Olympic
Games in Beijing. In the same crew, Sean also won the 'B' final
(seventh overall) at the 2006 World Championships and won bronze at
the 2006 Munich World Cup Regatta. Cathal Moynihan joined Paul
Griffin in the Irish Lightweight Four, which raced at the
2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Cathal
made his international Senior début in the Mens Lightweight Four at
the 2007 Linz World Cup Regatta in Austria.
Other
Killarney Rugby Club competes in the Munster Junior 1 League
Division 3. Killarney Cycling Club is involved in road racing,
cross country mountain biking, and has had recent success in
downhill mountain
biking.
The Order of Malta Ambulance Corps also has a unit in Killarney.
With over 60 Senior members and 40 Cadets (under 16's), the unit is
celebrating its 70th year in the town.
Industry
Hosiery manufacturing and shoe making were
major industries in the town during the last century but have since
seen decline.
Liebherr Cranes have
had a presence in Killarney since 1958, with a combined
manufacturing/research and development facility in the town.
Dollinger-SPX, a
filtration products firm
and KMG Killarney Plastics have production facilities in the local
IDA Industrial Estate. Indigenous firms
such as Torc Engineering and National Organic Products have
established small industries in Killarney. Muckross Weavers have a
small tableware and woolens business aimed at the tourist market.
The
Department of
Arts, Sport and Tourism have also moved to Killarney, a key
beneficiary of the decentalisation of
Civil Service
departments outside the capital, Dublin. Certain sections of the
Department of
Justice have been situated in Killarney for a number of
years.
Tourism
Tourists near Ross Castle.
Tourism is by far the largest industry in Killarney.
With the exception of
Dublin, there are
more hotel beds in Killarney than in any other Irish town or
city. The tourist population is increasingly diverse however
a significant proportion of tourists originate from the US,
Ireland, the UK, Germany and other European countries.
Killarney's tourism history goes back at least to the mid 1700s,
when Thomas, fourth Viscount Kenmare, began to attract visitors and
new residents to the town. The date of 1747 was used in recent
250-year celebrations to honour the history of Killarney tourism. A
visit by
Queen Victoria in 1861 gave
the town international exposure, which it has enjoyed ever since.
In the Summer months, Killarney is busy with tourists perusing the
town's numerous shops and tourist attractions. Many shops are
tourist oriented with many gift shops around the town. The town
centre also offers a wide range of hotels, pubs and restaurants to
cater for every requirement. Killarney is also famous for its
jaunting cars (horse drawn carts) operated by local jarvies.
Tourists can avail of jaunting car rides and a guided tour of the
town's attractions offered by the jarvies.
Killarney SummerFest is a highlight of the year in the town,
featuring outdoor and indoor concerts from major Irish and
international acts. Previous acts include
Snow Patrol,
The
Cranberries,
Bryan Adams,
The Corrs,
Westlife,
Tom Jones,
Kris Kristofferson,
David Gray,
Pink,
Shane Ward and
KT
Tunstall. In 2009, the SummerFest played host to the only Irish
concert for 2009 of the
Pussycat
Dolls supported by
Industry. Other events during the
SummerFest 2009 included outdoor theatre, art exhibitions,
children's events, and the annual SummerFest Black Tie Ball.
Sporting events during the festival included the Ring of Kerry
Charity Cycle, the Killarney Regatta, the 5 km SummerFest Fun
Run and the Killarney Races.
Attractions
Ross Castle
Nightlife
Killarney is a popular destination for partygoers. Killarney's
nightspots are often busy seven days a week during the summer
months, when the population of the town and the surrounding area
increases significantly.
Car rallying
Until the early 1980s, Killarney was the destination of the
Circuit of Ireland Rally,
which was held every year over the
Easter
holiday weekend. Nowadays, on the first weekend of May each year,
the town plays host to the International Rally of the Lakes. The
rally brings spectators in their thousands to watch the top tarmac
rally crews do battle over the classic stages of the
southwest.
In recent years the event has attracted vast numbers of "boy
racers" and an increase in public order offences. The 2008 event
saw a large
Gardaí presence in the town
to tackle such problems but the event was still marred by 64
arrests in the town for various degrees of public order offences
including burnt out cars, destruction of property and numerous
reckless driving arrests
People
- Dick Fitzgerald, Kerry Gaelic
footballer
- Paul Coghlan, Senator
- John O'Leary,
former TD
- Edward Eagar, lawyer and
convict
- Michael Fassbender,
actor
- Hugh Kelly, writer
- Michael
Moynihan, former TD
- Breeda Moynihan-Cronin,
former TD
- Michael
McElhatton, soccer player
- Diarmuid O'Carroll, soccer
player
- Brendan Moloney, soccer
player
- John M. O'Sullivan, TD
- Colm Cooper, Gaelic footballer.
- Eoin Brosnan, Gaelic footballer.
- Seán Kelly,
MEP, former President of the GAA and Chairman, Irish Institute of
Sport
- Gillian O'Sullivan, athlete , racewalker - former Olympian, world
record holder and silver medallist at the World Athletics
Championships 2003.
- Tadhg Lyne, three times All-Ireland Senior
Football Championship winner with the Kerry GAA Gaelic football team.
- Jessie Buckley, singer, actress
and finalist in the I'd Do Anything BBC
series.
- Eileen Sheehan, Poet
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Killarney is
twinned with:
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|
Country |
|
Place |
|
County
/ district / region / state |
Date |
Italy
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|
Castiglione
di Sicilia
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|
Province of Catania |
1986 |
U.S.
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|
Concord
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North
Carolina |
1993 |
U.S.
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|
Springfield
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|
Illinois |
1997 |
U.S.
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|
Cooper
City
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|
Florida |
2003 |
U.S.
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|
Myrtle
Beach
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|
South
Carolina |
2007 |
United
Kingdom
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|
Kendal
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|
Cumbria |
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Germany
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Pleinfeld
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|
Bavaria |
|
See also
References
- http://www.killarney.ie Official Killarney website outlining
meaning of name
- http://www.killarneyceltic.com
- The official web-site of Killarney SummerFest
-
http://www.meathchronicle.ie/plus/roundup/articles/2009/06/24/40970-industry-supports-pussycat-dolls/
- The Kingdom: 100 arrests as gardaí crackdown on
thugs
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