National Monuments
Dail Éireann — 2026-10-01
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Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth

I thank the Minister for his answer. One of the requests from An Taisce suggested that an archaeological investigation and test would be carried out before the application was granted permission. The application has since been granted permission, albeit with some changes by Louth County Council. I understand that it is now with An Coimisiún Pleanála and that a number of observations have been submitted. There will be people who fall in a number of places on this issue. We know the importance of this site. We are talking about a Norman motte and bailey castle. We know it goes right back and is connected to the mythology of Cú Chulainn. It is known as Cú Chulainn’s Castle or Byrne’s Folly. Over many years, however, there has been a failure to consider this entire area a proper heritage site. Work needs to be done in that regard.
An Taisce stated that the buffer zone of 5.2 ha of open space around the castle cited by Louth County Council is totally inadequate to maintain the ambience of the complex of monuments. It spoke about the special powers the Minister has under legislation in this regard. While I understand that An Coimisiún Pleanála is going to go through this process, there is a need to look at this from the point of view of ensuring that we do what is best, which has not been done previously by Louth County Council and others, to protect this site so that it can be enjoyed in a far better way than has been the case to date.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-10-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:01:00+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-10-01