THE Stormont Minister responsible for Fermanagh’s heritage sites has said the apparent ‘neglect’ at some of our most treasured Castles is “not acceptable.”
Paul Givan who oversees the Department for Communities attended the opening of the new and improved museum at Enniskillen Castle last week and found himself answering questions on the state of other historic sites in the county.
After an apparent lack of maintenance, Monea Castle, Tully Castle and Portora Castle have been reclaimed by nature with rampant weeds, fallen trees and in one case even cow manure lining a public footpath. At Tully Castle the 17th century style garden with its box hedging was removed last month only to be discovered dumped in a field next to it. 
Asked to respond to the concerns of local people, including experts, Minister Givan told The Impartial Reporter: “I understand the concern there has been with some of the incidents that have happened in the past number of months.”
“Structurally all of the monuments are in good condition but clearly you have some of the grass that has not been maintained properly, whenever you can see the weeds, and I know there was a tree that fell at Portora, I know there was some incidents at Devenish and Tully as well with the vegetation that was removed. 
“Those things, I understand, have caused concern but a number of them I believe have been remedied. There was a reason the grass wasn’t being cut the way it was, that has been dealt with, lessons are being learned about how the incident at Tully that took place. That was removed in January but it was later in the year when it become widely known about what had happened with that vegetation. I have spoken to officials to ask how that happened.”
Minister Givan said his officials have been asked to “make sure that lessons are learned.”
“The community was clearly involved at the time when that was first planted, there has been engagement with the community around Tully and there are opportunities to have the community involved again,” he said.
Minister Givan was shown photographs of local heritage sites appearing untidy and unkempt that were taken by photographer John McVitty and published in this newspaper in recent weeks. Asked if this was acceptable, Minister Givan replied: “No, to me it is not acceptable.”
“When I see the weeds that are growing, there is some basic maintenance that needs carried out. They are things that we have raised with officials. I would be confident that these issues will be resolved satisfactory because I don’t want it to happen again next year.”
Asked if he was embarrassed, Minister Givan replied: “In terms of what happened in January [at Tully Castle], obviously I wasn’t in post when that happened. Even at that I suspect it never even got up to ministerial level in terms of a decision that was taken to remove the vegetation. I want to ensure the historic monuments across Northern Ireland and Fermanagh are properly maintained,” he said.
When it emerged that the popular box hedging at Tully Castle had been dug up, farmer Roger Corrigan, a member of the Churchill Development Association, told this newspaper at the time that he was full of “sadness.”
“When you stand there in that courtyard it is not just any ruin, it’s not just any old Castle. The blood of 70 odd people is under your feet, mostly women and children. It’s a wee bit of a memorial to those people. A couple of pieces of churned up earth doesn’t do much,” he said.
Asked if he would consider erecting a memorial to the 68 women and children and 12 men who died at Tully Castle on Christmas Eve in 1641, Minister Givan said: “Those types of memorials are important, I know we have taken that forward in my own constituency.”
“If there is an initiative there that the local community want to take forward I would encourage them to do that. We partnered in my area with the local Council so I would like to think if the community want to take forward some kind of memorial that is something that the Council would want to support. If permission would need to be required then that is something that I would be happy to look at,” he said, emphasising the need to maintain Fermanagh’s history and heritage.