Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. I apologise on behalf of my colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, who was unavailable. I was asked to stand in for him, so the Senator will appreciate that the information I will give him is the information that has been supplied by Deputy Brian Hayes's office to me.

I am advised that Castledonovan Castle, also sometimes known as O'Donovan's Castle, is a national monument in private ownership but in the care of the national monuments service of the OPW. It is located near Drimoleague, County Cork. It has an interesting history. Castledonovan is a castle, or tower house, of medium size and was the seat of the Clann Cathail of the O'Donovans during the 16th century. It was occupied for a time by the O'Donovans in the latter part of the 1500s but some histories report that the family had largely moved in the early years of the 17th century to another location closer to the sea. It was severely damaged in the 1640s, reputedly by the forces of Oliver Cromwell, who destroyed part of the structure apparently in retaliation for the family having sided with the Stuarts and participated in the rebellion of 1641. The building was abandoned after this and was not lived in subsequently.

Castledonovan is in private ownership and is therefore under the guardianship of the Commissioners of Public Works, who must make arrangements with the landowner to gain access to the building to carry out works. This arrangement is provided for legally in the various National Monuments Acts and this allows the Commissioners of Public Works to perform works to the building and undertake any maintenance necessary to keep it in good order. The building is wholly located on private lands, with no formal right of way currently for members of the public to access the property. However, the landowner is very committed to public access and has agreed with the national monuments service that he will facilitate public access to the building once all the work has been completed.

The national monuments service has been engaged in an ongoing scheme of works at Castledonovan for several years. The project commenced in 2001 and will be fully concluded later this summer. The project has been technically very difficult and was hampered in the early stages, particularly by the condition of the building which was, at that time, fragile, structurally unstable and dangerous. The project was also affected by relatively poor weather over a number of summer seasons and the need, at times, to divert resources away to other conservation and maintenance projects ongoing in the region at the same time. While the length of time taken to bring the work to completion has been somewhat protracted, this needs to be viewed in the context of a project which was complex and, at times made more difficult by its particular circumstances.

The first phase of the work involved consolidating the structure to enable OPW's own workforce to work safely on the building and carry out necessary conservation of the structures. A comprehensive archaeological investigation, over three successive seasons, was also carried out at the site and this had to be done before any of the extensive conservation work necessary was undertaken. Elements of the original structure were unearthed during this excavation, some of which craftsmen were subsequently able to successfully use in the conservation project, re-incorporating these elements into the preserved structure.

The work at Castledonovan was carried out by OPW's own direct labour force, based at Mallow, County Cork. The project cost, including archaeology, scaffolding, OPW labour and all materials in the period 2001 to date is €1,672,841.83. The project is almost complete with only access stairs to the building to be provided and a small amount of fencing and landscaping yet to be done externally. As part of the landscaping, OPW will also, by agreement with the landowner, provide a small number of car parking spaces which will facilitate visitors wanting to see the castle. It is intended also to provide an interpretative panel outlining some of the history of the site and a local caretaker has been identified who will open and close the site and maintain a watch over it to ensure it is not damaged.

There are no plans to provide any guide facilities at Castledonovan, as at other OPW sites around the country, but Deputy Brian Hayes made considerable efforts last year through the communities initiative to invite interested local groups to join with the OPW to present sites such as this to visitors on a voluntary basis. I commend this initiative to the Senator and I suggest that if there are responsible and interested locals in the area who might be interested and who can organise themselves successfully, he should please refer them to the OPW. It is hoped that all works at Castledonovan will be completed by late June or early July this year and I hope that visitors will then be able to come and view the results of the long years of effort and skill by the craftsmen and women working within OPW.