Plan for trust to purchase historical buildings

Why don’t they join forces with the Irish Lankmark Trust I wonder.

Interesting that Martin Cullen believed the purchase and restoration of Lisadell would cost €30 million. I believe that the new owners a spent a total of around €5 million. How can the state defend this calcaulation- Eddie Hobbs please investigate!

Strange to say but I think they appear to be better protectors of the property than the state would have been.

The new owners of Lissadel have been a revalation in every way 11 out of 10 territory and they didn’t even need volunteers to come in on their own very controlled budget.

“The minister has signalled his intention to create a body to look after historical buildings. The plans are being worked on at the moment.” It is understood the body will be similar to the National Trust in Britain. The British trust is a charity and is independent of the British government. The Trust protects more than 300 houses and gardens, plus 49 industrial monuments and mills. The body is funded through membership fees and admission charges.

The vast bulk of properties held by the National Trust and their regional affiliates are important landscapes and habitats such as very substantial tracts of the North Antrim Coast including The Giants Causeway and Rathlin Island not to mention Slieve Donard and Coney Island.

For such a body to be truely modelled or be even similar to the National Trust in the UK or indeed any National Trust who are recognised members of IUCN it would have to be:

1> Totally independent of Government control
2> Capable of managing both Built & Natural heritage
3> Capable of environmental/heritage advocacy
4> A membership organisation open for public membership with a one member; one vote system of governance
5> Granted favourable taxation treatment
6> Possess the power to declare property inalienable under statute
7> Be involved in environmental and heritage education to both childrena

Anything less than the above could not be a national trust and exclusivity could not be given to one body but must also be granted through an umbrella group to all the players in the Heritage area such as the City and County Civic Trusts and organisations involved in specific areas such as the Peatlands Conservation Trust and the Irish Georgian Society.

I thought An Taisce described itself as the ‘National Trust for Ireland’? Am I missing something?

It’s a National Trust in name only. It doesn’t have the legislative footing that the ones in the U.K. and elsewhere have, and the associated huge funding needed to take on and run heritage properties.

Any new heritage buildings trust would as a matter of course have to include An Taisce in its make-up.

It is well past time that the government passed the relevant legislation for such a ‘full-blooded’ National Trust. For years now, important properties and their landscapes have been lost. It is savage to watch them, one by one, turn into the inevitable hotel-golf course-conference centres. – Carton in Kildare, Lough Rynn in Leitrim, Kileen Castle in Meath, Dromoland Castle in Clare, Adare estate in Limerick, Luttrelstown Castle in Dublin…the list goes on…..

Another exellent 18th century estate is just about to be wrecked for a hotel-golf course development in Carriglas, just outside Longford. Go up & see it while it’s still intact…

I thought that Carton was destroyed by the IRA.

There is no truth to that; the destruction to Carton was the elimination of some of the finest rolling parkland in Europe to be replaced by a very sterile golf-course and the construction of buildings ancillary to the main house which have ruined its setting.

Carton was the ancestoral home of the Fitzgeralds one of the great families of Ireland; if it could have survived another fifteen years its fate would probably have been very different. A real pity although many features of both our built and natural heritage are being lost on a regular basis due to the absence of funds for our National Trust

The one benefit of the Carton Development is that the public now has access to the estate.
On a recent visit I was genuinely pleased with the restoration of the exterior of the house. The new hotel looks like an terrible eyesore 50 metres from the fineist palladian house in Ireland.

The golf course and hotel wouldn’t have bother me too much as long as the house and Shell Cottage was preserved as is- but htis is not going to happen.

Future developments such as Killeen & Carriglas should be kept clear of the historc buildings. New modern buildings at other sides of the estate would be okay with me.

Let’s hope this trust gets set up before all of the estates are golf courses.

Interestingly when the old IRA went to burn Carton in the 1920’s the last resident Fitzgerald or Duke of Leinster took a picture of Lord Edward Fitz off the wall and gave them a lesson in the history of Irish Independence including 1798 rebellion. They left without causing any damage.

The BBC series Aristocrats is about the Fitzgerald and Lennox families and was actually filmed in Carton house and estate. This is well worth a look at;.

Recently, I visited Hearst Castle in Calfornia where I believe some of the original contents of Carton reside. Enormous and impressive place but no one had heard of Carton or Irsih content in the Castle.

This site is an excellent blue print as to how to open up an historic building to the public.

http://www.hearstcastle.com/

@Michael J. O’Brien wrote:

Interestingly when the old IRA went to burn Carton in the 1920’s the last resident Fitzgerald or Duke of Leinster took a picture of Lord Edward Fitz off the wall and gave them a lesson in the history of Irish Independence including 1798 rebellion. They left without causing any damage]

I have heard that story as well but I presume he failed to mention that Queen Victoria stayed there. If you ever do a tour of the house you’ll be told Victoria used the first ever shower, and that the servents pouring the water had to be blind folded. believe it if you will.

What has happened at Carton is not desirible, but thankfully the house was not let fall in to disrepair. Hopefully Ballyfin will be a better example of converting a historic house to a hotel.

What happen to the interior of the House? Is it being restored as well?

It is Ballyfin is best practice

“Ahern announces new heritage trust”

http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0909/heritage.html

@Ireland.com courtesy of Eircom.net wrote:

new Irish Heritage Trust is to be established to acquire and protect important heritage buildings, the Taoiseach Mr Ahern announced this evening.

Speaking at a conference in Maynooth, Mr Ahern confirmed the formation of the new body and said it would be backed by €5.5 million of funding this year.

Mr Ahern said he was “confident that this [funding] will contribute to its early success. While the Trust will operate on the basis of existing “Charities” legislation, the Minister for Finance is currently considering, in the context of Budget 2006, additional tax incentives, both in relation to donations of heritage properties to the Trust and donations to endowment funds required for each property.”

The full details of the structure and governance of the Trust will be announced later this year by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

Me Ahern said that the trust would be independent and would be funded by a combination of private and corporate donations. The new body would also examine the use of membership fees.

This move has to be wecomed an I like so many others will be waiting to see the detail of what exactly is proposed.