Farmleigh

Bertie’s opening speech provided a wry smile when he stated, that with 14 bedrooms including three beautifully appointed suites, he hoped Farmleigh could accommodate the imminent arrival of twenty-one oversea’s Delegates.

Anybody else think that we could have made more of a statement by spending £43 Million on a totally modern contempory style building to act as guest house to world leaders. It would have been a lot more interesting I think?!?!?

I went along to see Farmleigh on Saturday morning. There were huge crowds waiting outside the Phoenix Park visitor centre- all the publicity certainly seemed to catch the public’s intention.
Firstly I would have to complement the tour guides who were borrowed from Dublin Castle, the tours were very informative and all our questions were answered.
So what did I think of the house?
I was impressed overall. It is abviously not in the same league as Carton or Castletown houses. The OPW seem to carried out great work- the house looks amazing throughout but still holds onto its antique charm. The boudoir is very attractive but the room that stands out the most is the ballroom- very impressive and it puts the ballroom of the nearby Aras to shame. Interestingly a number of visitors felt that Farmleigh was more impressive than the White House.
Negatives: the house was a bit empty- I read somewhere that the Guinnesses had taken some of the contents with them- but I think with a budget of £18 million the OPW could surely have afforded to replace them. There is also no public access to the Bedrooms or suites upstairs (tour guide informed us that the ‘presidental suite’ is called the DeValera suite, the other two suites are the Collins and Iveagh suites.)
The worst aspect of the house is a fire escape which has been erected behind the library and the Nobel room- I have no idea how this got planning permisson- it is a disgrace as it wrecks the views from both rooms and also the back elevation of the house.

My suggestion to the OPW would be to open up the 1st floor of the house and also the gardens and the landmark clock tower.

Was it worth the money- yes indeed especially considering there is 80 acres going with the house and imagine if a hotel group had purchased the property and inserted a golf course and built on an ugly extension to the house.

My opinion is that Farmleigh will eventually become the Taoiseach residence and I think then we shall get real value out of our £41 million.

I would like to congratulate the government and the OPW on the purchase and restoration of Farmleigh- this will be one of the main legacies of the Celtic Tiger era.

It is a pity that such a huge amount of money was spent on this large but very unspectacular building. This rather ridiculous purchase came just a few years after the government chose not the buy Carton House in Kildare, one of the finest 18th century houses in Ireland. This house was in dire need of a restoration along the lines seen at Farmleigh. The Government would not only have assured the future of one of Ireland’s most historic houses but would have also saved millions. As it turned out Carton like to many other great buildings has become part of yet another exclusive Golf resort and the setting and landscape around the house scarred forever. Lord Edward Fitgerald would turn in his grave if he saw what had happened to his birthplace, he who had given his life for Irish liberty! Farmleigh will always be a very poor substitute no matter how big the purchase price.