Talk:Farmleigh

Comment
I don't think all 25 heads of state were in attendance at the ceremony - for e.g. the Queen is the head of state of the UK but was not at the ceremony, Tony Blair (PM) was.


 * Excellent point, see the rte news story from that day http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0601/bono.html. I will remove unless someone can prove to the contray. Djegan 19:33, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

Speculative story from Irish Independent regarding head of government standard accomodation. Djegan 15:44, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

The total cost of Farmleigh
The article mentions E29m for the purchase and a total cost of E52m. I'm interested in ascertaining the total cost in more detail. There is little available on the web - I have found a page by a building contractor mentioning a contract worth E16m. This appears to refer primarily to structural works. A restoration of such a house to its original glory would have involved substantial crafts input, which I presume was supplied by the OPW. The OPW site refers to a number of FOI requests for the total cost - if anyone has the answers to these, I'd be delighted to have a look.

The article on the restoration of the Steward's Lodge refers to newspaper reports of a cost of E600k. The Dail record quotes Tom Parlon's reply to a question about these costs as:

"The Steward’s House is an integral part of the Farmleigh Estate and it was included as part of the purchase of Farmleigh by the State in 1999. Much of the renovation work was done directly by the building maintenance service of the Office of Public Works as part of its ongoing programme of works. External contracts directly associated with the renovation work total €568,076 inclusive of VAT. In addition, direct landscaping contracts came to €30,748 inclusive of VAT."

Note that he only quoted the cost of external contracts, although the OPW had done "much of the renovation work". This distinction was missed by the journalists and an incorrect figure entered the public domain.

I'll do some more research as I think the cost of this project is an important part of the Farmleigh story and should be recorded. Scartboy (talk) 20:07, 1 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Yes, this information is relevant and should be added here and also maybe to the Taoiseach's residence one. Snappy (talk) 21:35, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Origin of name
Anyone know the origin of the name Farmleigh? Snappy (talk) 22:59, 13 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I got an email from an official in the OPW. He confirmed that there is no Irish name for Farmleigh. This is OR I know, but there ya go. Laurel Lodged (talk) 08:13, 14 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Ok that's fine, but what is the origin of the English name then? Snappy (talk) 20:08, 14 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Probably just makey-uppy. The official also said that in the 1840s it was known as "Farmley". Was the "leigh" to gentrify or to Gaelicise it? Laurel Lodged (talk) 20:15, 14 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I see, probably nothing of interest to add to the article then, although the original name/spelling could be mentioned. Farmleigh does sound a bit posher than Farmley, but the -leigh ending sounds to me, more British than Irish. Snappy (talk) 20:36, 14 June 2011 (UTC)