asked the Taoiseach, if he has further considered the acquisition of Carton Estate, Maynooth, County Kildare and if he has investigated the possible involvement of other bodies in such a venture.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Acquisition of Carton Estate.
8.
As I indicated to the Deputy in response to previous questions on this subject, the basic position is that Carton House and demesne is in private ownership.
I am, of course, fully aware of the unique cultural and artistic value of Carton.
I have had discussions with the owners and I believe that uses could be found for the house and demesne which would commend themselves to the owners and would also ensure the preservation of the house and its demesne.
I have also had discussions with the local authorities concerned and I note that the revised Kildare county development plan which will be coming before the Kildare County Council would require the preservation of the house and demesne.
Are we talking about Carton House in County Kildare, or Carlton House? The last Carlton House that I remember was the cinema in O'Connell Street, which disappeared about ten years ago.
We are talking about Carton House and demesne in County Kildare and part of the demesne is in County Meath.
The Order Paper refers to some place called Carlton House. Is the Minister clear about which house he is thinking of acquiring or not acquiring?
He wants a special committee for that one.
The designation on the Order Paper may be somewhat different but I am sure that Deputy Durkan, who has shown a consistent interest in this matter over the years and who put down the question, is in no doubt that he is speaking about Carton House.
He had better, if he wants it to be acquired.
(Interruptions.)
I can assure the Leader of the Opposition that I am fully familiar with the name of the place in question and it is Carton House. When I submitted the question, it was spelt as it should be. Unfortunately, through some error or other it has been misprinted on the Order Paper. Could I ask the Minister of State if he has approached other Government Departments that may have an interest and might be prepared to co-operate in the acquisition of Carton House? Further, has he been able to elicit an asking price from those who own the property?
There is no money.
The question of other organisations becoming involved in these matters is one which has been considered and discussed at length over the years. However, we come back to the basic position that the property is at the moment in private ownership. I met the owners who gave me some general idea, without actually naming the amount they were thinking of. However, I do not know if they were thinking of that in conjunction with planning permission, which they had sought, or without planning permission. Details of that sort were not discussed and we did not discuss prices.
A final question.
Would the Minister be prepared at this stage to approach, for instance, the Departments of Agriculture and of Fisheries and Forestry who ultimately might be in a position to contribute towards the acquisition of the estate? Furthermore, in view of the proposal in the national development plan to initiate a lottery, perhaps consideration might be given to earmarking some of the proceeds from that lottery towards the acquisition of estates such as Carton House and estate?
The Minister should put it up as a prize.
There is no money to repair local authority houses and why are the Government doing this?
The views of the Departments of Agriculture and Fisheries and Forestry are well known on this. As far as the latter part of the question is concerned, last week when the Taoiseach made a public announcement he said that some of the proceeds — and he emphasised the word "some"— would go towards sport. I, as Minister of State with responsibility for arts, culture and heritage matters, am naturally very interested as to where the rest of the money will go. I shall be making a very strong case to the Taoiseach for the culture and heritage area and I know I have a very sympathetic hearing from the Taoiseach in this regard.
Set up another special committee.