In 2003 Eddie Walsh and Constance Cassidy took on one of the bravest restoration projects in Irish architecture, Lissadell House. They tell Matt about the ups and downs since then.
Eddie and Constance are both barristers. They have seven kids so taking on the project was no mean feat.
The House had been closed for five years because of a legal battle with Sligo County Council over the right-of-way. The couple sued the County Council and lost in the High Court. Eddie went into deep shock after the high court decision. “I wondered why I had committed myself so much to it”, he says. “I decided I wasn’t going to invest one more minute of time, or money, or effort in Lissadell."
The Supreme Court appeal went mainly in their favour but “even talking about the case makes me sad”, says Constance. “I didn’t want Eddie to get bitter. There was no jumping up and down at the end - it was just too hard”. They estimate the final legal bill will top €10 million.
It took a long time to get Eddie back to Lissadell. “We were certainly disenchanted, certainly apathetic in the way that after all the hard work we had put in in the initial five years, for all that to become such a controversy”, he says.
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