One of Ireland's best-known stately homes may be forced to close if the Government fails to provide it with funding. Fota House in Carrigtwohill, Co Cork, a 76-room mansion set in 780 acres of gardens, is said to require €200,000 a year if it is to remain open.
The house was built in the 18th century as a hunting lodge for the Smith Barry family. University College Cork bought the estate after the death in 1975 of Mrs Dorothy Bell, the last member of the Smith Barry family to live at Fota.
In 1987 UCC decided to sell most of the land apart from the wildlife park. As a result, the house was closed. It then fell into disrepair, but after exhaustive fund-raising by the Fota Trust it was returned to its former splendour and was opened as a tourist attraction.
The secretary of the Fota Trust, former MEP Prof Tom Raftery, said that the house had been consistently ignored while funds were made available for projects in the Dublin area.
"I find it difficult to understand that attractions like Farmleigh House in Dublin's Phoenix Park and Dublin Zoo have received €57 million in capital investment from the Government in the last seven years," he said. "In comparison, we have received just €2 million."
Some 313,000 people visited Fota wildlife park last year and 18,000 attended the recent "Fota on Ice" event.
"The figure of €200,000 will diminish as we establish ourselves as a viable attraction," Prof Raftery said. "All we are asking is that the Government gives us a bit of help until the business can sustain its own existence."
Representatives of the Fota Trust have met officials of the Department of the Environment in recent months and Prof Raftery said that the Department had been "very impressed by what had been achieved". A spokeswoman for the Department said that negotiations were ongoing and that it would be "unfair to comment any further".