A community group has claimed in the High Court that a set of gates allegedly blocking public access to a period house and its estate in Co Kildare is an unauthorised development.
Save Castletown Committee CLG claim the gates and connected fencing, erected by the owners of a 235-acre parcel of land within the historic demesne of Castletown House in Celbridge, are blocking public vehicular access to the house and grounds via a road known as Gay’s Avenue.
The committee is seeking an order requiring the owners to remove the gates and fencing, on the grounds that planning permission was not obtained for their erection.
According to court documents, Save Castletown Committee was established in September 2023 after the Office of Public Works did not acquire the 235-acre parcel of land.
It was instead acquired by a group of related companies, the respondents in the action: Celio Properties Ltd, Kilross Properties Ltd, Liffey Bridge Homes Ltd and Springwood Properties Ltd.
The privately owned parcel makes up part of the Castletown House demesne, while the State-owned part of the includes the grounds on which the house itself is built.
On Monday, Save Castletown Committee’s counsel John Rogers SC, appearing with Peter Leonard BL and instructed by FP Logue solicitors, said his side were looking for “some priority” in seeking a hearing date.
Appearing for respondent parties, Michael O’Donnell BL said Kildare County Council considers the erected gates to be an exempted development.
Mr Justice Richard Humphreys listed the case for an expedited hearing date, set for late July.
In a sworn statement, Fintan Monaghan, chairperson of Save Castletown Committee, says that the public has previously “enjoyed habitual access” to Castletown House via Gay’s Avenue. It connects an access point to the house to the northern entrance to the historic demesne, which is close to the M4 motorway.
The erection of the gates and fencing has blocked all public vehicular access to the house and demesne grounds, Mr Monaghan claims.
“The lack of vehicular access has significantly limited the ability of the public to habitually access this recreational and tourist amenity,” he says.
Mr Monaghan says that the ongoing blocking of access to Castletown House at Gay’s Avenue is having a “severe impact” on the local community.
He claims the gates obstruct the primary route from the M4 motorway to the demesne, and could potentially delay emergency medical services from reaching the northside of the demesne, or accessing the demesne via the M4 in a timely manner.
The gates could also impact tourism and recreation at Castletown House, Mr Monaghan says, and threaten the financial viability of the house. This could have a knock-on effect on local business, he says.
Mr Monaghan says his group’s purpose is to promote public access to the Castletown House estate, and the reunification of the historic demesne lands.
“[Save Castletown House] believes that Castletown lands are of vital historical, cultural, and ecological significance for the community of Celbridge and Leixlip, and therefore considers that they should be in State ownership for the use and benefit of the people of the area and for the State as a whole,” he says.
