I should like to make a point on this and I am glad that both the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Lands are present. Earlier this year the property known as Fota Island which comprises a demesne and a mansion and includes a garden which is unique in the world I believe came on the property market and the Minister for Lands on appeal from some sources put a stop order on the sale with a view to looking after the interests of some local farmers who claimed they were congests. After some time the Minister withdrew his stop order but in the meantime there were representations from Cork County Council and Cork Corporation to the Minister for Finance with a view to persuading the Minister to make a contribution from State funds to the acquisition of Fota as a public amenity. The Minister met one or two deputations and he apparently decided there would not be State funds available for the purchase of Fota. In the meantime the trustees of the Fota estate went ahead with the sale and asked for tenders. Amongst the tenders received was one from the two local authorities, Cork Corporation and Cork County Council, for a sum which was apparently not acceptable. There were conditions applied to the user of these lands, no matter who bought them. The appeal by Cork Corporation and Cork County Council was to maintain user of the lands as a public amenity. The interest of the Minister for Lands lay in the suggestion that there was congestion and some portion of the lands were needed to relieve this. Subsequently Cork Deputies from the Fianna Fáil side of the House tabled a motion in Private Members' Time, which was not reached unfortunately, asking the Government to make a contribution so that these lands could be retained for public use.
I would like to urge on the Minister that both he and the Minister for Lands, if the latter was involved, reconsider the decision not to apportion State funds and I would suggest that there is ample precedence for such an expenditure. I need only refer to the burning down of the Abbey Theatre some 15 years ago. The then Government, very readily, very promptly and very correctly made substantial funds available for the purchase of the site and the rebuilding of the theatre. This is not on all-fours with the case I am making but there are two other examples I can give which are much nearer home. When there was danger that the house and lands at St. Enda's would pass from the ownership of the late Senator Margaret Pearse into private hands, the Government, again through the Minister for Finance, stepped in and made moneys available for the purchase of St. Enda's. Some time prior to that, when Cork Opera House was burned, and private interests made bids for the purchase of this valuable site, the Government again stepped in and, with the assistance of the local authority and voluntary local contributions, made moneys available. These are two more immediate precedents and I assert that the State should make money available for the purchase of Fota Island and so preserve this unique garden and magnificent mansion for public purposes. I assure both Ministers there will be no "I told you so" from this side of the House if they change their minds. It will be an exercise in good and high-minded politics if they do what I ask.
