Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

A very passive approach is being taken here. We should be setting out with determination to acquire this estate. The Minister says it is not strategically important or a priority. I do not understand that. Has the Minister ever been up there? It is absolutely spectacular. Currently we can just walk past the estate to Lough Dan. If we had access to the full estate, the investment that the State would put in in its purchase would be repaid many times over in future years. Anybody going to Wicklow or considering travelling through that landscape would want to go down to Luggala. It would easily pay for itself over the medium to long term. There has been all this fanfare over Project Ireland 2040 and the investment in our cultural infrastructure but, God almighty, one could not get a more important piece of cultural, architectural or natural heritage infrastructure than the Luggala Estate which is important for its oak trees, deer, architecture and landscape. It is absolutely spectacular and would be a tragedy if some property developer or private interest got hold of the estate.

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