Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. Notwithstanding petitions - there can, unfortunately, be petitions on many matters - the sale is ultimately a commercial matter between the owners of the property in question and the parties interested in purchasing. The estate is located near Roundwood and within the vicinity of the Wicklow Mountains National Park. The lands fall within objective 8 of the management plan for Wicklow Mountains National Park and are adjacent to the 1,600 acres of land the State purchased from the estate in 2006.

As such they are within the target area where acquisition by the State could be considered. However, while the estate falls within the core of the park's target area and encompasses some of the most iconic views of Wicklow - it is beautiful, as both the Deputies have described - it would not have the same strategic significance to the National Parks and Wildlife Service as the 2006 lands which linked two unconnected pieces of the national park. The 2006 purchase, in effect, provided the National Parks and Wildlife Service with a continuous tract of land stretching from the Dublin border to just north of Lugnaquilla Mountain.

Given the scarce resources for capital investment available in our national parks and mindful of the need to focus on core responsibilities relating to the management of existing parks, the Department could only consider acquiring this property if the price fell within a certain range.

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