No interest in Galway mansion with bargain €1 price tag

The offer of a 17th century house and extensive gardens to Galway County Council for the princely sum of a euro has still not been taken up.

The local authority has been urged to acquire Garbally House in Ballinasloe along with its ten acres of ground and turn it into a major visitor centre and tourist attraction.

However, the Council has expressed reluctance to do this as it says it would require a €4 million investment to renovate – and would then have to be staffed and maintained.

The house, which is adjacent to Garbally College, is owned by the Catholic Church which is willing to offer the property to Galway County Council for the nominal sum.

The matter had been raised at a meeting of Ballinasloe Municipal Council earlier this year when members were told that the authority would look into the matter and report back.

Director of Services with Galway County Council Liam Hanrahan told the April meeting that the matter would be given further consideration and he would be making his findings known to a Corporate Policy Group meeting soon.

Cllr Timmy Broderick said that he believed the building had huge potential and added that there would be State funding available to renovate the property.

He said that it was a protected structure and needed to be preserved and utilised into the future for the benefit of the local area.

At one stage Cllr Broderick said that it has the potential to be “the jewel in the crown” of the West of Ireland if developed into a tourist facility, similar to Westport House in Mayo.

It is known that Garbally House was built by Richard Le Poer Trench, second Earl of Clancarty around 1820. This was thanks to his diplomatic skills at the Congress of Vienna a few years earlier where he had also been created Marquess of Heusden in the peerage of The Netherlands.

Lord Clancarty’s architect for Garbally was the London-based Thomas Cundy senior and this was his only significant Irish commission.

The Le Poer Trenches remained there until 1922 when the estate was sold to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clonfert for £6,750 when it went on to become a boy’s secondary school.

Cllr Broderick said that Dunguaire Castle in Kinvara was acquired by the County Council for development potential and there was no reason why the same could not be applied to Garbally House.