Vincent P Martin (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O’Donnell for his attendance in Seanad Éireann and congratulate him on his recent appointment as Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works. It is appreciated that he has reached out to and met all the Kildare North Oireachtas Members. We hope he can help break the logjam, with a new set of eyes injecting and instilling a fresh approach and, if you like, a type of cold-case review. He will no doubt be aware all Oireachtas Members in Kildare North have adopted a non-party political approach, united in the sole purpose of achieving a resolution for all.

Castletown House is an 18th-century, neo-Palladian country house built within an extensive estate. In 1994, the OPW took on responsibility for both the house and the estate. Initially, this included only 13 acres of land, including the house. It has long been the policy of the OPW to seek to reunite the historic Castletown estate and, as the Minister of State is no doubt aware, in 1997, 100 acres south of the house was acquired. The farmyard adjacent to the house was acquired in 2001 and in 2006, the lands associated with the Batty Langley Lodge were acquired, as were former Coillte lands to the north and east of the house in 2007. Since 2008, the OPW has reassembled, and fair play to it, 227 acres of the original 580 acres of land that forms part of the historic demesne. It is well documented, however, that last year, 235 acres of the Castletown lands was sold on the open market, with the Office of Public Works outbid in its efforts to reunite these lands. The OPW is repeatedly on record as stating it is willing to purchase the lands at a fair price - I presume that means the market value - but the problem is that, to date, an agreement to purchase the lands has not been reached, which is very frustrating.

This is clearly the long-term, permanent solution. Let us put the landowners' bona fides to the test. Will the Minister of State please reactivate a meaningful dialogue as soon as possible to achieve both short-term access solutions and the long-term resolution? Will he also help restore trust, which has been fractured, between the OPW and the local community? His presence on the ground and a hands-on approach have the potential to be a catalyst for good. Celbridge has in recent years experienced a large increase in population and desperately needs more recreational amenities, yet it is enduring restriction after restriction in respect of access to these lands. One of the local community's pro bono legal advisers, the lawyer Peter Paul Hughes, is on record as stating that the recognised, standard and tried-and-tested process of a green valuation needs to be fully utilised and exhausted and that that not only needs to be done but that it needs to be seen to have been done.That process involves two independent valuers being appointed and a price being agreed.

At a recent public meeting, Councillor Nuala Killeen summed it up when she stated that there is not a snowball's chance of county councillors rezoning amenity lands on these historic grounds to allow for residential development. Celbridge is starved of adequate and proper recreational and sporting facilities. I hope the Minister of State's recent appointment will instil new hope and that his input will break the logjam.