Should the Irish Government buy Lissadell House for the nation?

One of Ireland’s finest great houses is coming to the market for the first time since its completion in the 1830s. All such surviving Irish properties are relevant in a socio-historical context, yet few could challenge the cultural and historical importance of Lissadell House, in Carney, Co Sligo, the childhood home of patriot, Constance Gore-Booth Markievicz and her poet sister, Eva. Sir Josslyn Gore-Booth is now selling the house through Jackson-Stops, guiding offers in excess of €3 million.

It was the childhood home to Constance Gore-Booth who became a hero, fought with the insurgents in 1916 and was condemned to death. Her sentence was later quashed and she was imprisoned. Having refused to take her seat as the first woman MP at Westminster, she did sit as a member of the first Dail. She later fought in the Civil war and served the Dublin poor until her death in 1927.