15 households with 14 children facing mass eviction from estate

A total of 14 households containing 15 children, in the Loretto Convents estate in Killarney, Co. Kerry, have been served with notices to quit by Cyprus-based investment company Xerico Ltd and have until summer to relocate.

River James and his husband, Dale, have lived in the estate since 2019. They took legal guardianship of Dale’s young sisters, Brógan, aged eight, and Lauren, aged nine, just over two years ago.

Mr James told Extra.ie: "When you don’t have family to turn to for help, you’d look towards your friends and neighbours, but if they are also being evicted, where do you go?

"It would be hard to even find a couch to sleep on, never mind somewhere for my husband and for two children attending school."

Most of the children living in the estate attend the nearby Scoil Bhríde Loretto National School, which may lose up to a tenth of its student population if the evictions go ahead. That will have a knock-on effect on how many teachers it can retain.

Property listings show there are just three homes available for rent in Killarney, and eight in Tralee, which is 32 km away. Kerry County Council has stated that routes to buy the four apartments and ten houses in the estate could be explored, but the families involved continue to live in uncertainty.

"The girls are devastated," Mr James said. "One of them is in second class, so she mightn’t be able to do her Communion with her friends. We’ve put offers on houses. Places come up for €200,000 but sell for €350,000 and there’s 50 people in a bidding war.

"We’re limited for time, for money. There’s no chance we’ll be able to afford anything in the Killarney area anyway. We both work full time. I’m doing a Master’s degree, and we take care of the kids. When do we even have time to look for a new home, never mind afford one?"

The couple both work locally, River as a software engineer and Dale as a supermarket manager, but the scarcity of housing has led them to consider emigrating to Spain.

"A lot of our friends live in Australia or Canada, because it’s just impossible if you don’t have parents that can give you a bit of land, or €40,000 for your deposit," he said.

"For those people that don’t have that support system, this country is in trouble.

"The estate has lots of chefs, waitresses, and service staff. The hospitality sector is in crisis. They can’t keep their staff. There are no houses for the staff to live near Killarney."

The couple were the first to receive their notice to quit in February, with an eviction date of February 2026, although this may be extended in line with the other families at Loretto Convents to July 2026. Mr James said that despite endless searching online for housing, only three properties are available for rent nearby.

"One of them is only a six-month lease ending in March next year," he said.

"The other is a converted storage container, one-bed. The other one is over €2,000 a month. This is in October – that falls to zero from March to August."

Other tenants on the estate are also facing huge challenges around work, childcare and education as a result of the eviction. There is a woman from Mexico living with her husband and their 18-month-old baby. He’s Irish. She’s been here in Ireland for four years and had four evictions,’ Mr James said.

"They moved down from Cork to Kerry, thinking it would be a bit more stable. They had their baby on a creche waiting list for a year, and now it looks like they’re just going to be evicted again. It’s just an absolute insanity."

He said many on the estate don’t qualify for social housing but also can’t afford market rates, as the "figures don’t add up".

Mayor of Killarney, Councillor Martin Grady, told Extra.ie that the Government needs to re-evaluate social housing supports and treat the impending eviction at Loretto Convent as an emergency.

"For an average family of four in Kerry, the income threshold for social housing is €38,500 per year. If you earn slightly above that, you’re excluded and you also won’t qualify for cost rental schemes unless your net household income is below €59,000," he said.

"These limits leave thousands of hard-working families trapped earning too much to qualify but not enough to secure a home in the private market. The system is leaving them behind."

He said the Government’s provision of modular homes for Ukrainian refugees shows "when the State identifies a crisis, it can act swiftly and decisively".

"I’m calling on the Department of Housing to treat this case as an emergency, to intervene…"

Irish agents for Xerico Ltd, Home Club Ltd, were contacted.

* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.