The sale of Lissadell House, Co Sligo, is imminent, its owner said last night.Sir Josslyn Gore-Booth said he was near an agreement to sell the historic property. When asked about the purchaser, he said the deal was subject to a confidentiality clause.
It is thought a wealthy private individual based in Sligo has agreed to buy the property, which had a price tag of €3.75 million when Sir Josslyn put it on the market in May. A statement is expected today.
According to some accounts, the person planning to buy Lissadell will provide access to the public to visit it.
Sir Josslyn had indicated he would give the State the first option to buy the property.
But with the Government having ruled this out last month, talks to finalise the sale to an alternative buyer are believed to have taken place in Dublin yesterday.
Those believed to have visited the property include the singer Bono of the rock group U2.
However, a number of people in Sligo said last night that they believed the buyer was based in the county. Sir Josslyn's great aunts were Countess Markievicz and her poet sister, Eva Gore-Booth. In addition to featuring in the poetry of W.B. Yeats, the house is a major example of 19th-century architecture.
The chairman of the Jackson Stops estate agency, Mr Marcus Magnier, declined to comment on the sale.
Heritage groups such as An Taisce and many local and international interest groups called on the Government to buy the house. However, this was ruled out after the Government projection for the purchase and refurbishment of the property reached €30 million.
As the Opposition criticised the failure to buy the property, a spokesman for the Department of the Environment said it had heard unofficially that a specific bid was under consideration. He said that no viable public-private partnership proposal had materialised since the Government expressed an interest in securing private investment.
The Sligo Fine Gael TD, Mr John Perry, questioned the Government's estimates. "The ambiguity was quite constant and totally disingenuous," he said.
The house and an adjoining 400 acres could have been bought for €5.5 million.
As chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, Mr Perry wanted to see the records from the Government's inspection of the property. "I'm going to insist on seeing the files. They're not just getting away with this now," he said.
The Mayor of Sligo, Mr Seán MacManus of Sinn Féin, called on the Government to intervene. He said he was "gravely concerned" at reports that the State would not be buying the property.
"The case for State ownership of Lissadell House is overwhelming. This has been made clear to both Minister Cullen and the Taoiseach by myself on behalf of the Save Lissadell Action Committee," he said.
The chairwoman of the Sligo County Tourism Committee, Ms Ita Leyden, said the failure of the State to buy the property was "unthinkable". Referring to the feminism of Countess Markievicz, she said: "It's very sad for the people for Ireland, and especially for the women of Ireland. They could have had change back from €5 million."
