The long-term future of one of Ireland's leading tourist attractions is under threat as a result of heavy public liability insurance premiums.
While this year's insurance bill has been paid and it will be business as usual this summer for Lord Altamont at Westport House, Co Mayo, the soaing costs are putting a serious strain on the operators of the historic property, which attracts thousands of visitors annually.
The insurance bill for Westport House this year is €122,000. This is about one-third higher than three years ago when the fee was about €90,000.
"We are committed to operating this year, and the insurance premium is paid up. However, it remains a very serious overhead which is just not sustainable," said Ms Nora Heraty, Westport House's marketing manager.
The Government, she said, had been slow to do anything about the situation. However, the Personal Injuries Assessment Board had been set up, and that had been an important development.
"The board will initially deal with employers' liability, and it will be a while before they move on to the areas of public liability.
"From our point of view, the sooner that happens the better. It is important to treat this as a matter of great urgency," she said.
Other initiatives such as the Civil Liability Bill, part of which looks at reducing awards, also needed to be speeded up, she added.
Ms Heraty said that in Ireland 70 per cent of cases involved barristers, whereas the figure in the UK was 4 per cent.
"In Ireland 42 per cent of money paid in claims goes on legal costs. There are twice the number of claims and four times the level of awards in this country as opposed to the UK."
While this continued, underwriters from Europe would not come near this country, and that ruled out competition between insurers.
Passing on the costs to the consumer made Irish businesses less competitive than the rest of Europe, she added.