Bunratty Castle & Shannon Development

I stumbled across a very interesting book on how Bunratty Castle and Folk Park became the tourist destination it is today by author Bernard Share titled "Bunratty: Rebirth of a Castle".
From my reading it seems that to help mitigate the eventual removal of the enforced stop-over at Shannon Airport in the 1950s (which had been agreed in a bilateral agreement between Ireland and America in 1945). It was decided by Sean Lemass (who was then Minister of Industry and Commerce) that they should try to promote tourism further in the west around Shannon Airport and this happily coincided with the purchase of the castle by Lord Gort in 1953 and also the OPWs desire to protect the castle (which had been ongoing since the early 1900s).

From there Lord Gort, who purchased the castle privately, was allowed to restore the castle with significant help from the OPW and eventually open it to the public. Later the idea of the banquet was added and finally the Folk Park was added on lands adjacent.

So the current situation (as far as I know) is that the castle was sold to Shannon Development for £10,000 and later a trust was formed to administer the castle who then leased the castle back to Shannon Development. One of the key paragraphs I think is

'The trustees shall hold Bunratty Castle upon trust for the State... to the intent that Bunratty Castle will be preserved in the public interest and made available to the public as a contemporary National Monument. Bunratty Castle may be used as a tourist amenity and as an entertainment centre provided such use is subsidiary to the object aforesaid and provided all profits (if any) therefrom are applied exclusively in the furtherance of the said object.'

Shannon Development was dissolved in 2014 and its assets are now operated by Shannon Group Plc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon_Development
https://www.shannongroup.ie/about-us/

It is now Shannon Heritage (part of the Shannon Group) that operates the Bunratty Castle & Folk Park.
https://www.shannonheritage.com/UsefulInformation/About/


From Bunratty: Rebirth of a Castle
pg 184
"so what they decided to do was that the building should be sold for a nominal sum to Shannon Development, who would be the custodians, if you like.' The sum involved was £10,000 and the indenture was signed, sealed and delivered on 17th October 1969 by the Right Honourable Bessie Viscountess Gort, and by Brendan O'Regan representing SFADCo; other signatories were John Hunt, the solictitor John Gillman and Lord Gort. It was not, however, until 3 June 1987 that an indenture was made establishing a trust under the terms of which, as stated, 'The trustees shall hold Bunratty Castle upon trust for the State... to the intent that Bunratty Castle will be preserved in the public interest and made available to the public as a contemporary National Monument. Bunratty Castle may be used as a tourist amenity and as an entertainment centre provided such use is subsidiary to the object aforesaid and provided all profits (if any) therefrom are applied exclusively in the furtherance of the said object.'
One trustee each was to be nonimated by SFABCo, Bord Fáilte, the Trustees for the time being of the Furniture Trust and Aer Rianta, the State airports authority. In the matter of management, the Trustees agreed to 'enter into a lease with the company (Shannon Development) whereby Bunratty Castle will be leased back to the Company. Under the terms of the agreement regulations regarding times and prices of admission were to continue to be made by the Commissioners of Public Works, subject to the approval of SFADCo and the trustees of the Furniture Trust. This latter, created by a deed dated 12 June 1959, had been altered and added to by a further deed dated 3 October 1967 made between the Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests for Ireland - 'the ultimate owners', according to Peter Donnelly - and the trustees; the former body was now empowered to 'make any alteration to or variation of or additions to the presents' by the Building Trust.
Lord Gort had, in a somewhat bizarre ceremony, immediately handed back Shannon Development's £10,000 cheque representing the purchase price of the castle to be applied to the Furniture Trust..."