Caragh Lake

The lake is included within a large Special Area of Conservation: Killarney National Park, Macgillycuddy's Reeks and Caragh River Catchment SAC.^[4] Most of Caragh Lake falls under this designation as an SAC.^[5] The rare Kerry slug was first discovered near this lake in 1842.^[6][7] The lake is glacial in origin.

The north-eastern corner of the lake, particularly surrounding the townland of Glannagilliagh,^[8] is home to a number of holiday properties,^[9] built from the 1970s onwards,^[5] which have views of the lake and MacGillycuddy's Reeks mountains.^[9][10] In a 2015 article in The Irish Examiner, the view across the lake from Glannagilliagh was described as being possibly "the most beautiful westerly view in Kerry".^[6]

Since the discovery of the rare Kerry slug and designation of the area as a Special Area of Conservation, planning permission for the construction of new homes has become difficult.^[6][5] Many of the luxury properties pre-date this ruling however, and extend to the lakeshore itself, including private slipways for the launching of boats.^{[6][9][5][10]} In 2016, real estate agents Savills noted that there was a premium on lakeside houses in the area, and that getting planning permission for a new build at the same scale as some of those existing would "be out of the question".^[9]

Although frequently only purchased with the intention of being used as holiday homes, properties in the area often sell for millions of euro.^{[9][5][6][10][11]}

• 
  View from Caragh Lake Mountain
• 
  Sailing on Caragh Lake
• 
  The lake in 1981, looking towards Carrauntoohil

• Caragh River

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