A historic Tralee convent is to get a new lease of life as a health and social centre for a housing complex that caters for elderly people. The former Mercy convent in Moyderwell, which was shut by the order in a recent rationalisation of its communities in Kerry, is to be refurbished as part of the next phase of the Tralee Town Council regeneration plan.
Junior Environment Minister Michael Finneran has given the green light for the refurbishment of the convent into part of the Tobar Naofa housing development.
Tobar Naofa, which is a high quality, secure 42-apartment housing complex for the elderly, was developed as part of phase one of a community regeneration project.
As part of the work on the convent, the ground floor will be modified to provide for a new HSE run day-care centre and a community facility for the residents of Tobar Naofa.
The first floor of the building will retain its residential use and be turned into eight additional apartments.
Tralee town manager Michael McMahon said the refurbishment of the convent was “a significant objective in the regeneration plan and also demonstrates the government’s ongoing commitment to the regeneration project in Tralee,”
The Mercy order set up a convent in Moyderwell in a house owned by the parish priest and opened a primary school.
In 1878, the nuns built a purpose-built convent and in 1953 Moyderwell expanded into a full Secondary School.
In 1985, this became Tralee’s first co-educational convent secondary school.
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