The Government has been urged to buy the Martello tower on Sandymount Strand in Dublin, which has gone on sale with a guide price of €1.5 million.
Local Fine Gael TD James Geoghegan said it is a “national monument” as he expressed concern about its ability to serve the community if it was sold into private hands.
The early 19th century tower, number 16, was one of 28 positioned around Dublin Bay as part of a coastal defence against invasion by France during the Napoleonic Wars.
The owner had put in a planning application for a cafe 25 years ago, but “for whatever reason it didn’t work out”.
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The Dublin Bay South TD and former councillor said people would constantly ask if there was anything he could do about the tower on the promenade.
“People haven’t had access to the inside of it for decades, and people who’ve lived in that community long enough remember a time where there was actually a cafe,” he said.
Raising the issue in the Dáil on Thursday, Geoghegan pointed to the Sandycove Martello tower which operates successfully as the James Joyce Museum and is managed by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.
He said there was an “enormous opportunity” to create a history tour linking all the Martello towers. “It could become an iconic destination,” he said.
Sandymount Strand is visited by hundreds of people on a daily basis, Geoghegan said. “It’s an oasis on our Dublin Bay. It’s a Unesco biosphere. It’s something that the whole of Dublin is proud of and enjoys and frequents.”
Geoghegan said he believed there had been some “preliminary engagement” by Dublin City Council with the seller.
“But the State and the local authority could work together so that you could have a cafe on site that would build up the revenue,” he said. “And whatever the capital costs might be right now, it would wash its face in a very short period of time.”
Minister of State Emer Higgins said the Office of Public Works (OPW), which has responsibility for the care and management of 180 State buildings, has no plans to buy the tower.
However, she said, “The OPW is standing ready to engage constructively with relevant stakeholders, where appropriate.”
Higgins said the “continuing engagement with Dublin City Council is very positive”, and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council’s management of the Sandycove tower “demonstrates that where appropriate such structures can be preserved and can be repurposed through collaborative arrangements at local authority level”.
Estate agent Colliers director Mervyn Ellis confirmed the guide price of €1.5 million.
“There’s a lot of due diligence required in terms of bringing the building back to life,” he said.
“But it’s a large building, 6,500 square feet (603.8 sq metres),” with a great location and history. “It’s an iconic property so we have received a response that it merits.”
