Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being here to take this matter. My question relates to heritage and the portfolio of the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan. I am particularly delighted that the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, is here because he totally understands the building about which I wish to speak, given his family connections with the O'Briens in Ardfinnan. I would be shocked if he has not visited the premises in question.Knocklofty House, just outside Grange on the Ardfinnan to Clonmel road, is an 18th-century house, which was home to Lord and Lady Donoughmore. It is listed as a protected structure under the Tipperary county development plan, as well as being included in the national inventory of architectural heritage for its artistic, historical, social and architectural significance. The building is a former hotel and hosted numerous weddings within the locality of Grange and Ardfinnan. It is where I learned to swim and anyone my age would remember that Martin Daly used to do swimming classes every Saturday morning. My mother brought me and my brothers there to go swimming, and I would be surprised if the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, has not been there himself in the summer months.

Pictures emerged two weeks ago of the current state of the building, and to say it is in a shocking state is not an exaggeration in any way. When anyone drives into Knocklofty House at the moment, they will see that the surface is like the moon with the number of potholes. If they look to the left, what used to be beautiful fields are now taken over by rubbish. There has been mistreatment of animals and, in particular, horses in recent years. To be fair, the county council has tried its best to control this but it has not been totally successful.

The pictures that surfaced have angered locals to the extent that they have set up a Facebook page with almost 1,300 members. They are deeply upset by the state of the building and they have asked the council to get involved. In fairness, local Councillors, McGrath, English and Murphy, with many others, have contacted the county council and they have acted. They went out and did an internal and external assessment of the building, and a report will be prepared as a result. I thank them for that.

In these times, county councils are limited in what they can do due to funding constraints. The work that needs to be done to preserve this historic building, which is an obligation on the State, needs more than just the support of the county council. I ask the Minister of State, as someone who knows this area quite well and who has an allegiance to the region, to ask the Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan, to intervene at departmental level to support the restoration and preservation of this building. This has happened with other buildings across the country, such as Glengarriff Castle, which is being preserved and restored at the moment.

Knocklofty House is a beautiful site, on the banks of the River Suir, with beautiful lands. Any local person I speak to at the moment says they are extremely upset. This used to be a beautiful place to go for a walk, and people do not want to lose that character or lose the importance of it. The Department has the historic structures fund and the built heritage investment scheme. I call on the Department to use some of that money towards this project to preserve and maintain it.