Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me once again to bring this issue before the House, and I thank the Minister of State for coming in to answer the question. I accept that he is not the line Minister responsible but he has been helpful in the past in dealing with this matter.

I bring it to the attention of the House once again to ensure that access to Castletown House, a protected historic mansion and a huge tourist and local amenity, can be preserved for present and future generations. In the meantime, access for the owners of the property, the Office of Public Works, OPW, is denied by virtue of a neighbour having decided to change an arrangement that had been in place when the previous landowner was in situ. Access to the house and its 200 acres, including for maintenance, has been suspended and is denied, and the public are massively discommoded. Lest it be forgotten, it is our duty to raise this issue in every way and at every time possible to ensure the State will be fully informed of its obligations as the caretaker of a national monument such as this, not only in Castletown but throughout the country, and of the need to protect, preserve and maintain such monuments.

I raise this deliberately now because I have had discussions with the line Minister, who tells me that there has been some progress in the sense that the matter has been referred to the Attorney General and that legal eagles have been detailed to deal with it to assess the possibility of making a claim prior to acquisition by compulsory purchase order. While that should have been done at least a year ago, it shows progress and demonstrates a recognition in the OPW that there has to be a solution. There is no sense in introducing a temporary arrangement or a solution that will suffice only until something else happens, or a reversionary lease, or a lease that is subject to somebody's whim to change from time to time.

On this occasion, as we near the end of the current Dáil, it is important to put in place certain parameters for the protection of national monuments such as Castletown House and its 200 acres, gardens and the heritage element of the matter concerned in a way that will carry on until the next Dáil. If it should so happen that matters are legally resolved in the meantime, so much the better, but it is important at this stage to ensure we will continue to pursue the matter indefinitely. Needless to say, we will try to continue to do so through this Dáil and into the next one if we are lucky enough to be returned to this House.

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