Departmental Properties
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-23
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Robert Troy (FF), Longford-Westmeath

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I acknowledge her continual and strong advocacy on this issue, not only in the past few weeks, but months and years.
It is regrettable that the Minister cannot be here today as she is caught up with preparations for the EU Presidency, but she sends her apologies. I will read the response given and hopefully it does address some of the Senator's concerns. If not, we will see how we can take it from there in the follow-up section.
Already this year, the Curragh has seen several different illegal encampments, including one containing approximately 100 caravans, which the Senator alluded to. This has caused a great deal of disruption and anxiety to local stakeholders. The Department of Defence does not accept that those occupying these encampments have any right to reside on the Curragh Plains and as such has been engaged regularly with the Chief State Solicitor's Office, CSSO, to ensure that all legal steps are taken promptly to protect the plains.
In April, the Department initiated proceedings for relief for trespass in the High Court and in the preceding months a number of other parties were served with notices and added to the proceedings before the court. On 5 June 2026, Mr. Justice Jordan granted an interim court order against 35 named individuals and other persons unknown in the occupation on the Curragh. These orders were served on those occupants by bailiffs on the evening of Monday, 8 June 2026, with orders to vacate. Interlocutory orders were served on the occupants of the large encampment on the evening of Friday, 12 June 2026. Further notices to quit were delivered to the encampment on Saturday, 20 June 2026.
In terms of addressing these challenges in the longer term, the Department of Defence is working to ensure that we move to a modern and sustainable regulatory model in managing this historically important landscape. In collaboration with Kildare County Council, the Curragh consultancy project was published in 2024, which identified the need for a review of the Curragh by-laws and the Curragh of Kildare Act, as well as potential amendments to provide effective solutions to challenges faced. The report also identified the need to consider a dedicated agency responsible for the Curragh or to assign responsibility for the site to an existing agency with the necessary expertise to maximise the potential of the plains.
The Government is committed to the implementation of these recommendations to address both the opportunities and challenges, as can be seen by its inclusion in the programme for Government. To this end, Department officials are continuing to engage with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, which has undertaken an initial scoping of the likely requirements.
I am informed that officials from the Department's property management branch met officials from the NPWS on Wednesday last, 17 June 2026, at the Curragh and undertook a tour of the plains. I am informed that this was a very positive engagement and that the appropriate next steps will be identified in the near future.
I thank the Senator again for raising this matter and would like to assure her on behalf of the Minister that it is her intention to ensure that the Curragh Plains, as an important element of our shared heritage, is protected into the future, while also ensuring maximum benefit to the local population, as well as to those who come to visit the area.

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Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-23