"I am very excited about the future of Clonmannon," says Mrs Jane McGrath.
The owner, with her husband Roddy, of Clonmannon Active Retirement Village is adamant Clonmannon has turned the corner and that her critics are unfair and unrealistic.
When the McGraths bought the freehold to Clonmannon in 1996, it had been in liquidation for a year. "It was as if someone had turned a light off in the place. I drove up - the grass was about three or four feet high, there were potholes everywhere, it was just a complete wilderness."
As well as tackling the physical state of the place, the McGraths set about introducing new care contracts. The original contract provided for lunches, the use of Clonmannon House, a laundry and shopping service and other facilities, including the availability of an on-site nursing home - but Mrs McGrath claims this contract would cost residents up to £12,000 a year each nowadays.
Under the contract introduced by the McGraths, residents pay £3,267 (including VAT) annually for services such as maintenance, water and sewerage but everything else is charged for separately - and the basement, rather than all of Clonmannon House, is open to residents.
The old contract could be changed with the consent of 25 per cent of the residents. "We had 85 per cent backing and we discussed it with everyone, we researched it, we saw what everyone wanted."
She says she is committed to the concept of Clonmannon as a retirement village. "Wicklow County Council gave permission for a retirement village. That's what it will always be."
Her exasperation with her opponents is clear: "The problem is I actually think they think they own the place. They are tenants of ours, that's all they are and that's all they ever will be." Residents at Clonmannon own the leasehold of their bungalows and the McGraths own the freehold.
"If they aren't happy they can leave," she says. "Clonmannon is not a prison. They couldn't leave in the past because everything was tied up (with receivership, liquidation and other issues). You couldn't get in or you couldn't get out."
"Where would you get a nicer place than this?" asks Mr Robin Sugrue, one of the majority of residents who back the McGraths. "The McGraths have done splendid work down here and I think everybody is really happy and content to be here."
Mr Jim and Mrs Phil Turpin have been long-time residents of Clonmannon. "We came here because we love the country," says Mrs Turpin.
They agree that the nursing home facility for the use of residents was a major attraction when they bought into Clonmannon.
The nursing home in Clonmannon House was closed by previous owners. But demands that the McGraths reopen it are unrealistic, say the Turpins and the Sugrues, who maintain that a nursing home in the house could not pass current health board or fire regulations.
Today, residents who are ill must find a nursing home elsewhere or pay a local nurse for her services. Some have left Clonmannon permanently because they need to be nursed.
Mrs McGrath insists Clonmannon is an active retirement village. "It says absolutely in black and white in the lease that if you're not able to look after yourself, you can't stay in Clonmannon," she says.
The Turpins say they benefit from the McGraths' system of charging for services such as lunch and laundry according as residents use them, because they themselves are away from Clonmannon much of the time.
Mr Turpin is keen to see the McGraths move into Clonmannon House - a move strongly opposed by those residents taking the McGraths to the High Court. As residents, says Mr Turpin, they need to feel "that if we are in trouble there's somebody around to help us, and as far as we are concerned the sooner Jane and Roddy (McGrath) move into this house and live here the better."