A two-storey high mosque (Masjid) located at the Killerisk business park in Tralee is well underway and is expected to be fully completed by early 2025.
Located on a 2.25 acre site, the foundations were poured in February 2023 to cater for a mosque with a 23-metre high minaret, and 18-metre high dome.
The house of prayer will be adjacent to a community centre with 10 bedrooms adjoining a balcony area.
Provision is also made for 80 car park spaces.
The entire site is to be enclosed by trees.
When completed, it will provide for the religious, cultural and social needs of Muslims in Tralee and countywide.
The mosque will no doubt be welcomed by Tralee’s growing Muslim community as most recent Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures for 2022 show that 2,151 people in Kerry stated their religion as Islam.
A planning application was submitted to Kerry County Council on behalf of the Kerry Islamic Cultural Centre in 2015 that was subsequently granted permission subject to certain conditions.
To help with construction costs, a GoFundMe page was set up that has so far raised over €30,000.
In June 2023, the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI), in collaboration with Kerry Islamic Cultural Centre, held a fundraising dinner that was attended by UK Imam Ajmal Masroor as guest speaker. It raised €128,000 through a combination of donations and pledges.
It’s thought the idea for a mosque was first raised in 1988 when University Hospital Kerry (UHK) provided a prayer space for Muslim employees.
In 2000, local Muslims rented a premises for prayers that eventually led to a smaller mosque at Killerisk in 2007.
In 2016, a site was purchased close to the existing premises where proposals were set in train for the larger mosque and community centre currently under construction.