The lake is included within a large Special Area of Conservation: Killarney National Park, Macgillycuddy's Reeks and Caragh River Catchment SAC.

[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.

This article related to the geography of County Kerry, Ireland is a stub.