Sir, – In spite of the establishment of the Irish Heritage Trust and the work of the OPW, the upcoming Bantry House contents sale ("Appeal to State to keep Bantry House rare works from sale", September 3rd) demonstrates that there is still no effective safety net to protect the historic collections of the great country houses of Ireland. Since the publication of the Irish Georgian Society and Department of the Environment-supported report by Prof Terence Dooley, A Future for Irish Historic Houses? (2003), this sale will become the second great country house in this study to have had its contents sold in its entirety while others have seen significant sales.
As cultural tourism attractions, these houses, together with their historic collections, often play important roles in rural economies through drawing visitors away from major centres. Selling their historic contents, as is now occurring in Bantry House, diminishes the attractiveness of the sites to potential visitors and so seems self-defeating.
So as to limit the further erosion of these nationally important heritage sites and to consolidate their role in the tourism economy, there is a clear need for all interested organisations (the Irish Georgian Society, the Irish Heritage Trust, the Irish Historic Houses Association, the Office of Public Works and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht) to rethink the basis upon which intervention might prove possible so as to avoid further instances of this potentially irretrievable loss of heritage patrimony. – Yours, etc,
DONOUGH CAHILL,
Executive Director,
Irish Georgian Society,
City Assembly House,
South William Street,
Dublin 2.