ABSTRACT
This chapter is about locus of castle 'destruction', Carrickmines in Dublin, where the fight against 'destruction' is a little more complex than was the case at Athlone. The story of the Carrickmines investigation gets more complicated from the moment that the importance of the castle site is publicly asserted through the media and is used as a foundation for legal action against the continuation of road building at the site. The legal/procedural issues raised by the Carrickmines saga are of critical importance today for heritage-management in Ireland, not least because the incumbent Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, has shown little concern for heritage and its management. Legal arguments against building over the site of the castle rest on flaws of process and on breaches of National Monument legislation, and so belong within that category of post-facto argument based on contractual matters.
