After 162 Years, a Convent Sold Below Market: Kerry Council Buys the Sisters of St Clare’s Kenmare Home

• Kerry County Council agreed to buy St Clare’s Convent, the last property of the Sisters of St Clare in Kenmare
• The 25-year-old building stands on five acres and will be used by the community
• The sale was agreed privately and was reported to be well below market value
• The order arrived in 1861 and founded the famous Kenmare Lace industry

The Sisters of St Clare are selling their last property in Kenmare, County Kerry, to the local council for community use, the Irish Examiner reported in May 2023. Kerry County Council accepted an offer to buy St Clare’s Convent, a 25-year-old building on five acres.

The sale was agreed directly without the property being publicly marketed. The price was not disclosed, but sources said it was well below market value, particularly given possible uses such as a services building or a municipal car park. The convent’s location on a flood plain affected its value.

The order announced in February that it was leaving Kenmare because of falling numbers. The sisters arrived in October 1861, seven of them, to help a community struggling after the Famine under harsh landlords. They worked as teachers and against poverty, and founded the Kenmare Lace industry, whose needlepoint lace won international fame in the Victorian era, including the patronage of Queen Victoria. Seven sisters attended the farewell Mass, the same number that had arrived.

Local councillor Johnny Healy-Rae praised the order. “There’s great credit due to them. It is a sign of all the work they did for Kenmare down through the years,” he said.

The Kenmare sale shows a religious order choosing to pass its property to the public at a lower price rather than sell for the most money. For Jamaican churches and orders winding down their work in a district, it is a model worth noting: a negotiated sale to a council or community body can secure a building’s future and honour the order’s history. Buyers and councils, in turn, should weigh practical issues such as flood risk, which can lower a site’s value.

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