Department won’t buy Court Abbey

THE Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht claims her Department can’t afford to take in charge Court Abbey cemetery in Mullinabreena.

Minister Josepha Madigan told Sligo County Council that she “fully appreciates” the extent of the local interest in the friary and the “understandable desire to see the substantial works that are needed to safeguard it into the future carried out as soon as possible.”

However she said she was “not in a position to consider acquiring Court Abbey” at this time. Councillors Margaret Gormley and Jerry Lundy have raised the issue several times at Council level.