Heritage Sites
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-11
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Louis O'Hara (SF), Galway East

As I am sure the Minister of State knows, Athenry is a heritage town. Within the town, we have a lot of really iconic landmarks and attractions, including the castle and the priory, which are under the remit of the OPW, but also the likes of the heritage centre and the town walls. There is incredible history in the town, and I think it is fair to say that there is a lot of frustration locally that we are being undersold in terms of our status as a heritage town and our tourism potential. We definitely have not reached our full potential for a town with such great heritage and history. There is a lot of great work going on locally to try to address that and I will come back to that. However, that some of our greatest assets are closed to the public is a major challenge. As I mentioned, the castle is closed now for the winter season until March. While I understand that access can be facilitated to the priory, there is a need to give a lot of notice. Also, I do not think there is a broad awareness among people who are visiting Athenry that there is the option to visit the priory. I ask the Minister of State to engage with the OPW on the opening arrangements for these sites and the promotion of these sites more broadly, which is a challenge.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-11