I thank you, Sir, for allowing me raise this matter. I wish to highlight a sad and sorry mess created by the Minister of State, Deputy Burton, regarding the possible purchase by the State of the Shackleton Gardens at Beech Park, Clonsilla. The Minister of State saw fit to telephone the "Pat Kenny Show" twice last week. She made her first telephone call to the show on Wednesday. The Shackleton family proposed to dispose of the holdings which were in their possession since 1919 by public auction the following day in order to satisfy family legal matters.
The lands and gardens were withdrawn from public auction at £500,000 but when Mr. Jonathan Shackleton and his wife Daphne were being interviewed on the "Pat Kenny Show" on Wednesday, the Minister of State telephoned the show and stated that the State had decided to purchase the lands on a phased basis. There was no such offer from the State. Some months previously the State had offered £550,000 for the lands, increased its offer to £575,000 and then formally informed Lisney and Son that it was withdrawing its offer.
During her Friday telephone call to the "Pat Kenny Show" the Minister of State was somewhat apologetic and defensive and Pat Kenny correctly requested her to be more specific about the State's intentions. She stated that such negotiations were normally conducted in private. Surely she was not conducting negotiations in private when she waxed eloquently on the airwaves on two occasions about the proposed purchase, when no formal offer was made by the State. The Shackleton family are being forced to take legal advice on the mess and muddle created by the Minister of State. As far as the Lucan Demense is concerned, she created a similar mess. The State is at an advanced stage of negotiations for that demense, but after the Minister of State informed all and sundry that the State owned it many people invaded the property claiming that as the State owned it they were entitled to gain access to it.
This is not a petty political point. A report in last Saturday's issue of The Irish Times states:
According to Mr. Tom Day, a director of Lisney and Son, estate agents, the Office of Public Works is being "unfair" to the Shackleton family by offering to open negotiations for a phased purchase of the ...property rather than making a...bid.
The report also states:
Mr. Day said his company was willing to open negotiations with the State on behalf of the five owners of the property if a bid was made.
"We will negotiate with anybody when we have an offer but, until an offer is made, there is nothing to talk about,".
On Friday a senior official in the Office of Public Works informed me that the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht was endeavouring to cobble together a proposal. The Minister of State's behaviour could prove expensive for the State. She believes politics were invented when she was elected to the House, but she should note that one's first electoral success is one's easiest. Her endeavours to curry favour by making such announcements and distorting the position is despicable. I hope the Minister of State present will give the facts regarding the purchase of the Shackleton properties. Does the State propose to make an offer and, if so, will it improve on the bid made at the public auction? The Minister of State's cheap political attempts at currying favour with the people of Dublin West in an irresponsible manner could result in the State being sued by the owners. She should be more careful in her handling of such affairs.
