Council served Longford's Glennon Brothers with notice to protect Carrigglas

​Longford County Council has been asked to respond to “local and county wide concerns” by outlining the steps taken to preserve Carrigglas Demesne.

​Cllr Niall Gannon, who submitted the motion at a recent meeting of the county council, also asked about “the further action it will take to protect the estate’s historic landscape, built heritage and biodiversity, including engagement with its owners and the local and county wide community.”

Cllr Gannon said he had attended two public meetings where there was palpable anger over the prospect of the area being forested. He said residents had asked him to bring the motion before the council to establish its position on the matter.

Addressing the chamber, Cllr Gannon said, “In relation to Carrigglas Manor and its surrounding demesne, it’s a treasured part of Longford heritage and the people in the area want to see the manor restored, its historical landscape protected and a sustainable future secured for the estate.”

“We appreciate the fact that it’s privately owned and so do the people at the meetings but there was a huge degree of anger and anxiety as to what is going to happen to this building.”

Cathaoirleach Gerry Hagan commended the motion and invited Director of Services, Paul Newell, to respond to Cllr Gannon’s motion.

Mr Newell said his reply would be divided into two parts, the protected structure and the forestry licence.

He added, “There’s ten protected structures in Carrigglas and three of them are of national importance: The Gandon Gate, the Gandon Stables and the house itself.

Then we have some regionally important protected structures: the boundary wall, the gate lodges and the secondary lodges. They are all of significant importance in the country and regionally.

There is also a proposed national heritage area which would deal with the wildlife part of the notice of motion and that's a proposed national heritage area. When the review of that is done, it will become a full national heritage area.”

Mr Newell added that a legal requirement had been served on the Glennon Brothers in 2024, requiring them to carry out works to protect structures.

He explained, “What Longford County Council has been at since December 2024, the council served a Section 59 under the Planning Development Act to the owners of Carrigglas, the Glennon Brothers, and this notice is to require that works be carried out in relation to the endangerment of protected structures so it puts a legal requirement on the owners to carry out the work.

It was served in December 2024. We've had ongoing engagement with the Glennon Brothers appointed conservation architects and urban planners to come up with a plan of how they are going to comply with the Section 59.

“What was issued to us as a draft last March is a conservation management plan and that sets out how they are going to comply with the Section 59 notice. This is a fairly complex site, the scale and the complexity of it is fairly significant and the plan is for a ten year strategy to comply with that notice.”

Addressing the second part of the response, which concerned forestry, Mr Newell said, “The application for forestry is to the Department of Agriculture.

The department then consults with the statutory bodies where they have a relevant environment, heritage, archaeological, fisheries or infrastructure interest. LCC is one of the bodies that the forestry department will be dealing with.”

Noted Mr Newell, “the important thing to realise here is that this isn’t a planning application for forestry, it is an application process through the Department of Agriculture.

The council would be one of the bodies making a submission in relation to the application. To date we have not received a copy of the application from the Department of Agriculture.”

In response, Cllr Gannon said the residents group “would urge the owners, Longford County Council and relevant bodies to work with the community towards some form of protection and restoration.”

He added, “It’s part of Longford and part of Longford’s story and we want to see it remain a living part of our future and to keep that in mind.”

Cllr Kevin Hussey voiced his strong support for the motion, describing it as “a crying shame to see the way it (Carrigglas) has been left for so many years.” “It has so much potential for the local area,” Cllr Hussey said.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme