Continued
During the War of Independence, the presence of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries were often felt about the place. One morning in June the hospital was raided. Military had surrounded the premises the previous night to watch if “any of those on the run would approach the hospital”. The convent, hospital and chapel were thoroughly searched. Male patients were questioned, but the raiders finally departed without achieving anything.
In 1922 the truce came. The Guardians were dissolved, the Workhouse system was discontinued, and the inmates were transferred to the County Home in Killarney.
Rumours of a new hospital were afloat. In February 1932, Doctor McDonnell, Local Government Inspector, and Mr. Geraghty, local Government Engineer arrived unexpectedly at St. Catherine’s by the request of the Commissioner, Mr. Guigan, to inspect the premises with a view to providing a central hospital for Kerry.
St. Catherine’s County Hospital 1934-1978
Messrs. O’Sullivan and Fitzgerald received the contract for reconstruction of the workhouse at £26,000 in August 1932. Work proceeded without a hitch. It was completed in 1934.
That summer, the Minister; accompanied by Doctor McDonnell and Mr. Bloomer, Engineer, formally opened the hospital, having been presented with a golden key by the Architect, Mr. Winters. Kerry T.D.s, Members of the Board of Health with their chairman, Miss Kate Breen and Secretary, Mr. P. C. O’Mahony, were entertained to a sumptuous lunch in the reconstructed workhouse dining hall.
Sisters were sent for a few refresher courses before they started work in the reconstructed hospital. On February 1st. 1936 in the reconstructed dining hall, Most Rev. Dr. O’Brien celebrated Mass. Rev. Mother Genevieve and members of St. John’s and St. Mary’s communities attended. Senior girls from Nazareth House sang, accompanied by Sr. M. Clare Leonard on the organ. His Lordship blessed every portion of the hospital including the boiler houses. He arranged that the priests in the Jeffers Institute would celebrate Mass every morning at 7.30a.m.
Nursing staffs and all ancillary staffs were being increased gradually.
During the reconstruction period of the hospital, the Sisters had no accommodation in the building. Manor House was their residence. Six Sisters slept in two wards in the female medical and at times others slept in St. Mary’s, Moyderwell. In 1950 the Sisters had to leave Manor as the lease was terminated. The next quarters were St. Roch’s, the old fever hospital which was partially occupied by the attendants.
In 1954, a spacious Out-Patients Clinic was opened. New hope dawned on the 17th. October 1953 when the foundation stone was laid by the Kerry Co. Council for a new Nurses’ Home which was given as residence for the Sisters. In 1956 the new convent was complete and much appreciated by the Sisters. Sisters resided there until the 1970s.
Kerry General Hospital / Kerry University Hospital First planned in 1974. On the 19th. May 1978 Mr. Charles Haughey, Minister for Health, turned the sod for a new hospital in a new green field site, with a price tag of seven million pounds. By the time construction was complete the cost had increased to £25 million. Once finished, the government found that it did not have the money to equip the building and it lay unused for a year and a half.
The hospital finally opened in 1984. It was called Kerry General Hospital. The matron in the new hospital overseeing the transition was the last Sister of Mercy to serve in that position. Sisters continued to nurse there for many years into the new millennium. After evolving to become Kerry General Hospital, it was renamed University Hospital Kerry in February 2016.
St. Catherine’s Hospital- Arus an Condae 1989
After the transfer of the patients to Tralee General Hospital St Catherine’s Hospital closed in 1984. The site was acquired by Kerry County Council the main hospital building was converted for use as the county council headquarters. It officially opened in its new role in January 1989. An additional building on the south east corner of the site, which was completed in 2000, has accommodated the Housing Department staff since 2015.
Southern Province 