The claim was made during a meeting held in the Four Courts in Dublin on Monday between representatives of Sligo County Council and the owners of Lissadell Estate.
The estate was shut down on 11 January in a row with the council over alleged public rights-of-way through the estate.
No progress was made towards a resolution of the dispute at Monday's meeting.
It now appears that legal proceedings issued by the owners, Edward Walsh and Constance Cassidy, against the council will go ahead.
The owners rejected suggestions by the council of off-the-record talks, a mediator, or a meeting of their respective senior counsels.
Mr Walsh said he would not agree to mediation about 'whether he should surrender his rights'.
The dispute arose after county councillors passed a motion to preserve public rights-of-way through Lissadell.
However at Monday's meeting the council's solicitor, Brian Armstrong, said that motion does not have legal effect, there is no Section 14 action in place, and he said the steps taken by the owners were not justified by what the council members did.
Sligo County Manager Hubert Kearns said a large number of people have claimed public rights-of-way at Lissadell.
However Mr Walsh insisted no such rights exist and he said they are obliged to seek a clear and definitive determination on the issue through the courts.
He said it is not feasible to have a situation where people can wander at will, drive, perambulate or do whatever they want through Lissadell.
'It would be utterly unmanageable and incapable of operation as a tourism attraction and it is something we would not wish to continue with', he said.
Mr Walsh said the council's actions had jeopardised a €12m investment and that does not include a further €250,000 spent on a new WB Yeats Collection, which was due to open at Lissadell today, the 70th anniversary of the poet's death.
