Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Once again, I am forced to bring to the attention of the House the ongoing issue of Castletown House in Celbridge, which is in State ownership, along with 235 acres. There is a stately home and a collection of various artforms not only relating to Celbridge but the country in general. It is an invaluable collection which needs to be housed securely. The building itself has to be maintained in an order which keeps the collection safe for future generations. In the last couple of years, there has been a huge increase in the traffic volumes through Castletown House by virtue of the interest shown in it and the promotion by the OPW. As a result of that, it has come to a situation whereby we have to plan for the future.

Unfortunately, a private arrangement was entered into for the last 15 years between the then owners of Castletown House and the State to gain access to Castletown House and the car park via the M4, which was sufficient to cater to any needs the State might have for the maintenance and servicing of the house and its environs. Unfortunately from the State's point of view, the adjoining property was sold. It is private property of 260 or 270 acres. It is the other part of the Castletown estate which is in private ownership. It was put up for sale and tender. The OPW failed to secure the property in the sale. As a result, the new owners are in the course of removing the facility that was there for the last 15 years on a temporary basis and have said it is all over. It puts all the property in jeopardy. It puts the services and the money that the OPW has spent on the estate over the last 20 years in jeopardy.

It has put in place a very difficult situation for the local residents and the OPW. The local residents continue to be blamed for causing an impasse on the basis that they have caused that, but they have not caused that. They have merely raised questions about the manner in which the OPW proposed to resolve the access problem that was presented to it in the month of September. That proposal was to widen the existing gates that were built at the time the house was built with angle grinders and to bring the traffic through the main gate. That is not feasible or practicable. The house was built 300 years ago, when the traffic on the main street in Celbridge was zilch except for the traffic going through the main gates, including horses and carriages and so on. It is not reasonable to expect that is the way that traffic will be handled in the future. The OPW said that it is all right, that everything is in order and that it has alternative entrance, access, egress or whatever it wants to call it, but it does not. It is not achievable, because it is 300 years since that access was deemed to be sufficient for the traffic likely to go through onto the main street. Now everything has changed. We now have a different situation which means that the local authority or OPW, together or apart, need to define who has access and by what route, and whether they can maintain, by way of court review or whatever, the access for the public and the valuable collection there indefinitely.

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