On 14th July 2000 President Mary McAleese presided at a formal ceremony at which the National Trust handed over Kanturk Castle to An Taisce - The National Trust for Ireland - to hold in trust for the people of Ireland.
Kanturk Castle is an important part of the heritage of the people of Kanturk, Co. Cork, and of the MacCarthy Clan. Built in 1609, it was never completed and eventually was acquired by the Perceval family. It remained in an unfinished condition for several centuries and was donated one hundred years ago to the National Trust for Places of Historical Interest or National Beauty, which had been established in 1895.
Kanturk became the seventh property to come into the ownership of the National Trust, and the first in Ireland. The National Trust now owns and opens to the public many historical houses, gardens and industrial buildings in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It also owns substantial areas of coast and countryside to protect them for all time. Kanturk was the only property the conservation charity owned in what was to become the Republic of Ireland.
An Taisce - The National Trust for Ireland - was established in 1946 (An Taisce means a safe-keeping place).
In the 1950s the National Trust invited An Taisce to manage Kanturk Castle on its behalf. Subsequently An Taisce entered into an agreement with the Office of Public Works, which undertook to care for and maintain the site together with the adjacent land purchased by An Taisce to enhance the castle. This guardianship arrangement still continues with Duchas, the successor of the OPW.
The Management of Kanturk Castle is an excellent example of partnership between the two National Trusts, Duchas and the Kanturk Community Council, which had the castle floodlighting installed.