Three arrested over criminal damage at Castletown House

Gardaí have arrested a man and two juveniles in Kildare in connection with criminal damage at Castletown House.

The three males were arrested on Friday morning by gardaí attached to Kildare North.

The arrests took place following a search operation at a number of residential properties in Kildare.

The three arrests relate to a number of separate incidents of criminal damage at Castletown House between April 22nd to May 4th, 2025.

Over the May bank holiday weekend, vandals entered a temporary Office of Public Works (OPW) depot at Donaghcumper House, overlooking the river Liffey in Celbridge, Co Kildare.

They first cut the wires to the house’s CCTV units, then overturned four vehicles and dumped a cherrypicker into the river.

“The estimated cost of the damage is believed to be in the region of €400,000,” a Garda spokesperson said on Friday.

Donaghcumper House was bought by Kildare County Council earlier this year with a view to creating a linear park along the Liffey, but it was bolted up and out of bounds to the public last week, with security at the gate.

The OPW was using it as a temporary depot in advance of the proposed reopening later this month of Castletown House, which has been at the centre of a major dispute over right-of-way access.

The three males, one adult male aged in his 30s and two juveniles, are currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at Garda stations in Kildare.