A PROMINENT tour operator has warned that one of the northwest’s prime attractions, Lissadell House, needs to be rescued from a shutdown following a High Court rights-of-way decision.
Keith McNair, director of Discover Sligo, said his organisation had found Lissadell, the childhood home of Constance Markievicz, to be a first-class attraction.
He said the court decision last month giving the public daytime rights of way across the estate had left Sligo people with a choice: to insist on their right, or nurture Lissadell’s tourism potential and not thwart the owners in their management of it.
He said: “Lissadell is a business, not a public park. We, the people of Sligo, need Lissadell and many other such projects to operate as successful businesses. The State not only cannot afford Lissadell, it doesn’t know how to manage it or realise its potential.”
Lissadell owners Eddie Walsh and his wife Constance Cassidy opened four roads passing through the estate within hours of the court decision in favour of Sligo County Council’s argument that the public had rights of way.
Soon afterwards, the owners placed barbed wire and poles around the house to protect their property and boulders blocked access to a valuable Yeats exhibition in a nearby coach house.
Mr McNair said: “Barbed wire is a defensive action. The owners of Lissadell feel that their property is under attack. They have come into the area and invested a huge amount of money without any tax relief or any grant system. They created a huge number of jobs. There was a massive economic benefit for the area.”
He suggested the rights-of-way issue could be resolved by the provision of an alternative route to the beach that would enable Lissadell’s integrity as a property to be maintained.
He claimed Lissadell brought nearly €20 million into the area last year with organised visits to the estate and a weekend of Leonard Cohen and Westlife concerts.
If a German or other foreign factory was setting up in Sligo there would be no shortage of facilities to accommodate the project, he said, but the Lissadell owners put €12 million into purchase and refurbishment of the estate without any State help.
Mr McNair added: “The Lissadell owners’ concerns are not being properly addressed or satisfied.
“For years we talked about flagship attractions. Here, a flagship attraction comes along and we’re shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Mr McNair said he had 1,000 signatures of Sligo people supporting the Lissadell owners’ insistence that the estate cannot operate as a viable tourism operation with open public access.
Fears are strong that Lissadell is unlikely to be reopened by the owners and plans for another big summer concert in the grounds this year appear to have been shelved.