Planning permission is to be sought for a range of improvements in the much run-down Killarney National Park, visited by millions each summer.
The park has 53 historic buildings, some of the most famous of which are in a serious state of disrepair.
The Victorian tea house and tourist landmark, Dini's Cottage, about which there had been a public outcry, is to be reroofed and is to reopen as a tea house, following planning permission.
However, the park's newest acquisition, Killarney House, will not now open in 2004 because of lack of funding, Mr Paddy O'Sullivan, the region's manager with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, said.
The 18th-century building, in the style of a French chateau, was donated by the McShain family and came into public ownership with the death of Mrs Mary McShain in 1998.
Initial estimates of some €750,000 for improvements have been shown to be completely inadequate.