Alleged "Witch Hunt" Claim By OPW Minister Deepens Rift In Castletown House Preservation Row

That's according to Suzanne Clifford of the Save Castletown Gate Protectors who met OPW Minister Kevin Boxer Moran at the Barnhall Rugby Club in Leixlip yesterday.

"It wasn't a very friendly meeting."

That's according to Suzanne Clifford of the Save Castletown Gate Protectors who met OPW Minister Kevin Boxer Moran at the Barnhall Rugby Club in Leixlip yesterday.

She claimed that the Minister had "talking points" and wasn't budging from them.

There is also consensus among various stakeholders and local groups that the Minister must publish the "fine details" following yesterday's back-to-back thirty minute meetings, with some groups claiming that the proposals lacked detail.

The meetings were focused on resolving long-standing access and preservation issues at the historic Castletown House.

Clifford was not impressed with the outcome.

She also questioned proposals for a solar-powered buggy to escort "essential vehicles" up Lime Avenue, which, under new proposals, would be limited to five per day.

She said the buggy will travel at double the speed of the previous arrangement, whereby OPW staff walked vehicles up the avenue at a cost of €10,000 euro per week.

Clifford said the "basic proposal sounds reasonable if you don't think too hard about it" but once "we pushed them on detail it all falls down".

She said that on one hand, the OPW clarified on the Minister's behalf that there is "pedestrian priority" on the avenue and that pedestrians can move over to the side or walk in front of an essential vehicle travelling up Lime Avenue. 

On the other hand, however, they said it is not safe "for a trained member of staff" to walk in front of a vehicle, Clifford said.

She also questioned how a person can walk at 10km an hour in front of a solar-powered buggy and essential vehicles.

She said there are people who use the avenue who "can't move out of the way of a car easily".

She also said another issue is that the house will be open to visitors this year under "active travel", meaning it would be over one kilometre from the nearest bus stop.

She claimed that at the meeting yesterday she was informed that "if people can't make the trip from the bus stop then they simply can not visit" the amenity.

She said that, after the meeting, Minister Moran accused her of operating a "witch hunt".

Clifford was showing him a box containing papers that people had written about Castletown House.

She said she wanted to show him how the community felt but he "dismissed" it.

There was also a petition presented to him signed by 11,000 people.

She claimed that the Minister said she would probably lose that support based on recent incidents even though it had "nothing to do with us".

"We want our concerns answered. What he said yesterday he put forward weeks ago," Clifford said.

Kfm has contacted the OPW for comment.