I ask the Tánaiste to get involved with the Office of Public Works, OPW, in the context of its actions in relation to the acquisition of lands at Castletown House in Celbridge. The community of north Kildare has rallied behind the acquisition of the lands and is dismayed at how it is being publicly pilloried by the OPW. That office needs to focus on engaging professionally and energetically with the landowners and the community rather than releasing over-the-top statements about closing Castletown House. We do not want a big house farce here. The lands with N4 access should be the focus. In fact, there always has been access for OPW workers to Castletown House through the Batty Langley gates and this should be maintained until the avenue issue is resolved. I am concerned that I have been misled by an OPW official on this. The fact is that the restaurant at issue always closes for the winter months. The community, which is made up of workers including public and civil servants and private sector workers, is upset that the great people working there have had to finish their season earlier than usual because of the OPW's intransigence. Frankly, the Minister must see to it that the OPW gets its act together before it loses the lands again, not to mention all of the backing and goodwill of the community. I ask the Tánaiste to try to turn this lose-lose situation into a win-win for the people of north Kildare.

My colleague Deputy Lawless and others have been in touch with me in relation to this issue and Deputy Durkan raised it last week on the Order of Business. The OPW is very conscious of the desirability or importance of reuniting the historic demesne and acquiring those additional lands. One always has to be careful, if such a potential acquisition is on the cards, that public debate on it does not create a favourable position for one party to the negotiations. Apart from that, the refusal of access to the public is very worrying and unacceptable. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, met with all of the Oireachtas representatives for Kildare North and also met community representatives from Celbridge on 10 October. The community council subsequently issued a press release saying that it was now fair, reasonable and appropriate to scale back the protests to allow unhindered vehicular access to staff. We are engaging with this and will continue our engagement on it.