Condition of historic Kildare building comes under fire
The condition of Jigginstown Castle on the outskirts of Naas has been criticised.
Naas Mayor Bill Clear said there is a clear need to get rid of the fencing, the portaloo and signs at the site of the historic ruins.
He said the castle should be either finished or made more attractive for people who might visit it.
A Naas Municipal district meeting was told that Kildare County Council “engages regularly with the OPW”, which has responsibility for the site.
The OPW has said it has resource issues - though the site is “used by the OPW as a training location for brick works..”
In December the OPW gave a commitment “to look at it and more recently explained that due to a number of critical staff resourcing issues like retirement “and some other key priorities in the region it has “not been able to follow up on Jigginstown Castle in any meaningful way.”
The OPW has asked KCC about what it would live to “see achieved on the site” and these views have been forwarded on.
KCC official Eoghan Ryan said the opinions of the councilllors in the Naas area can also be sent to the OPW.
Built in 1637 at a cost of six thousand pounds, it was the brainchild of then Lord Deputy of Ireland Thomas Wentworth, who was executed in London in 1641.