THE State has undertaken to restore the site of the visitors centre at Luggala, Co Wicklow, to its original character as a forest, the High Court was told yesterday.
Construction on the centre followed, a decision by the Office of Public Works to build in 1991. The OPW claimed it consulted Wicklow County Council about the project but the Supreme Court held the OPW needed planning permission.
Two years ago An Bord Pleanala refused planning permission for the project and it was decided to dismantle the work, estimated to have cost £1.6 million, already carried out.
Yesterday, Mr John Rogers SC, for a number of objectors to the centre, said he and Ms Fidelma Macken SC, representing the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, had agreed an order to be made by the court.
The terms of the order were: "That the lands at Ballinastowe, Luggala, Roundwood, Co Wicklow, be restored to its original character, as a forest, having first removed the steel strengthening bars which extend overground and having backfilled the underground works and having removed any works ... that prevent the lands being restored to their original character as a forest and to their original contours."
Among the persons who objected to the scheme were Mr Garech de Brun, Mr Sean Byrne, Lough Dan, Roundwood (on behalf of the Wicklow Upland Farmers and Property Association) and Mr Deiter Clissman, Carrigmore Farm, Wicklow.