Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would like to thank the Deputy for his ongoing interest in Castletown House and estate. In recent months, the Deputy has made continuous representations through parliamentary questions, Topical Issues and Oireachtas committees with regard to Castletown House and estate. He and the other elected representatives of Kildare North are members of the Castletown House and estate stakeholders’ working group. This working group was initiated by the Minister of State, Deputy O’Donovan, in October 2023 to progress the reuniting of the historic demesne and access issues to Castletown House and estate. This group includes representatives of the community and all of the local political representatives in the area.

The issue that has come to dominate the discussions of the working group is related to vehicular access for the staff of Castletown House. It is now the case that the OPW staff have not had vehicular access to their workplace since September 2023. Their union withdrew their members on 25 October 2023 until the OPW can provide a safe working environment or safe access and egress for their members to attend their workplace. A skeleton staff continues to undertake the minimum operations on the site.

The OPW has been asked by the working group to assess a number of different options for staff access. These include: the Castletown farmyard through the public road in the Woodview estate; through a privately owned and maintained road to the Batty Langley gate and onto the historical pedestrian pathway of the Dublin Drive, which is not designed for the weight of vehicles; and the Celbridge gate and Lime Avenue. It is understood from the community that the use of all these routes are unacceptable to different parts of the community, particularly the Woodview estate. However, if no routes are acceptable, then the outcome is that the OPW staff cannot return to conserve and protect Castletown House and estate.

In normal years, Castletown House would have opened last weekend to welcome visitors. This is not possible due to the continuing community protest. The Lime Avenue has always been the vehicular access point to Castletown House and estate since the House was built. The roadway is designed for vehicular traffic.

In the meeting of the working group on 22 February, one of the community organisations submitted a proposal to the OPW that would see staff accessing the site through Lime Avenue at certain times of the day and leave Lime Avenue primarily for pedestrians for the core part of the day, including during school commuting times. This was further discussed at the working group on 11 March and while there was broad welcoming of this proposal, it is my understanding that not all community groups have confirmed that they are willing to move forward with this proposal. I would urge the Deputy to use his leadership within the community to make progress on this proposal.

The first stage of this proposal is for an independent health and safety risk assessment of the impact of limited vehicular traffic on Lime Avenue. The OPW has appointed a health and safety professional from an Office of Government Procurement framework to carry out a specific audit of the use of the vehicular and pedestrian access routes for OPW staff vehicles, people with a disability and external contractors. The health and safety professional must be the person who finalises the report as it must take account of the OPW’s obligations as an employer under the Health, Safety and Welfare at Work Act. The OPW is committed to taking on board the advice from this health and safety professional.

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