Some time over the May bank holiday weekend vandals entered a temporary Office of Public Works (OPW) depot at Donaghcumper House, overlooking the river Liffey in Celbridge, Co Kildare.
They first cut the wires to the house’s CCTV units, then overturned four vehicles and dumped a cherrypicker into the river. The cost of the damage is estimated at €500,000, which could rise to €700,000 if the vehicles have to be replaced.
Donaghcumper House was bought by Kildare County Council earlier this year with a view to creating a linear park along the Liffey, but it was bolted up and out of bounds to the public last week, with security at the gate.
The OPW was using it as a temporary depot in advance of the proposed reopening later this month of Castletown House, which has been at the centre of a major dispute over right-of-way access.
‘Am I too old to wear this?’: It’s a question I never thought I’d ask but here I am
This photo strips the camogie skorts controversy back to its absurd essence
Albania has been dubbed ‘the Maldives of Europe’, but there’s so much more to this fascinating country
Michael Healy-Rae’s trees-on-peatland plan is environmental vandalism
The Castletown estate consisted of 800 acres. It was sold off in pieces, with the house and some land transferred to the OPW in 1994. Since then, the OPW has been steadily buying up land that formed the historic demesne, acquiring 227 acres so far.
The main vehicular access point was off the M4, and the car park, which accommodated some 250,000 cars annually, was located near the house.
The M4 entrance was part of private land owned by Janus Securities. The OPW made a strong business case to the Department of Public Expenditure to purchase the lands.
In September 2022 it argued: “Ownership of this key access route might provide considerable leverage to a new owner, either through a refusal to renew the State licence for access or through an unjustifiably high increase in the licence fee charged for access.”
The OPW tried to buy the land privately in 2021, but was outbid when it was put for sale in 2023. It was bought by Kildare-based developers Killross Properties, owned by Lar McKenna, and Springwood for more than €5 million.
Negotiations over a licensing agreement between the OPW and the owners broke down over the issue of public lighting and insurance.
The OPW and community’s worst fears were confirmed on May 11th, 2024, when the developer erected a barrier across the M4 entrance and blocked all private vehicular access to the demesne. The entrance is now padlocked and bolted, with “no trespassing” signs outside.
This has led to an ancillary dispute between some local campaigners and the OPW, which now uses Lime Avenue, the pedestrian entrance to Castletown House, for vehicular access.
Originally, the OPW agreed to its vehicles accessing the site with somebody walking in front of them, but it has since decided this is no longer financially or operationally feasible. Instead, a buggy escorts OPW vehicles up the lane.
The Save Castletown Gate Protectors community group say Lime Avenue is used by parents with buggies, children learning to ride bicycles and people in wheelchairs and there must be a return to the original walking escort agreement.
They keep a constant vigil in a blue tent at the entrance to Lime Avenue while the grounds of Castletown are open. These are still open to pedestrians but the gates are locked at 5.30pm, another source of grievance for local people who feel they are being shut out of their park during daylight hours.
There are no less than 11 organisations involved in trying to restore the status quo at Castletown House, and they are united in horror at the recent vandalism.
“This wasn’t a few kids in the woods who had a few cans and decided to have a bit of fun,” said Vinny Monaghan, chairman of the Project Castletown campaign, about the recent vandalism. Whoever did it, he said, knew what they were doing and knew the impact it would have.
Local resident Treasa Keegan added: “Castletown is the Phoenix Park of north Kildare, it always has been. It is the back yard of every person in Celbridge and Leixip. We absolutely have to protect and preserve it.
“I have been on the phone for the last 24 hours solid. I haven’t eaten, I’ve barely slept. I have had conversation after conversation with the people and everybody is numb with shock, disgust, anger and frustration.”
Áine Tobin, a campaigner, said local people were grateful for the efforts OPW staff have made to reopen the house.
“To target the workers like that is not on and it’s not nice. I don’t know who did it. The amount of damage done is horrific.”
Those who spoke to The Irish Times, and locals who posted on the various social media platforms, are adamant that none of their members had anything to do with the vandalism.
The OPW has been back on site preparing for the reopening of the house later this month. Staff were being taken by bus from Donaghcumber House to the Lime Avenue entrance and walking the rest of the way, or driving if in service vehicles.
Talks scheduled for Monday with the Minister of State responsible for the OPW, Kevin “Boxer” Moran, who is determined to succeed where his predecessors failed in resolving the dispute.
Artist Fifi Smith said locals have proposed a possible solution to the issue of vehicular access to Castletown, using a car park in the Kildare Innovation Centre.
She and local campaigners had been urging the OPW to apply this for 18 months, but she said “they have been very lethargic in response to that”.
Mr Moran told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland last week that he expects a planning application to be submitted in relation to a new car park in the coming weeks.
Ms Smith says a new car park could go a long way to resolving the dispute.
“All they need to do is to agree some details about how the traffic goes up and down the avenue and give a firm undertaking that Lime Avenue will be simply a pedestrian entrance. At the same time, they should be proactive about providing the car park which has been laid out for them.”
The issue could be resolved, campaigners believe, if the State used compulsory purchase powers on the lands involved. However, the OPW says that is not a matter for it.
Alternatively, campaigners believe, the State could invoke the Heritage Act to ensure the M4 side is reopened.
The developers did not respond to requests for comment.
