Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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226. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the plans OPW have to buy lands or lease lands adjacent to Castletown house and demesne [33524/23]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Castletown House is an eighteenth-century neo-Palladian country house built within an extensive estate.

In 1994, the Office of Public Works took responsibility for Castletown House and estate. Initially, this was only 13 acres of land with the house. It has long been the policy of the OPW to seek to reunite the historic Castletown estate. In 1997, one hundred acres south of the house was acquired. The farmyard adjacent to the house was acquired in 2001. In 2006, lands associated with the Batty Lodge were acquired with former Coillte lands to the north and east of the House acquired in 2007. Since 2008, the OPW has reassembled 227 acres of the original 580 acres of land which formed the historic demesne.

As part of the policy to seek to reunite the historic Castletown demesne lands with the house and lands in the care of the State, the OPW has sought on several occasions to purchase the lands from Janus Securities including when the lands were offered for sale on the open market in 2022. However, despite the very best efforts of the OPW, the State was out-bid in the open market process and ultimately, the lands were acquired by a private purchaser.

My officials continue to engage with the new owners with a view to both ensure access to the Castletown estate and to protect the future of the historic demesne.