The former Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, is expected to raise about £5 million from the sale of a small part of his Kinsealy estate in north Co Dublin. The 9.7 acres covers part of the village of Kinsealy and fronts on to the main Dublin-Malahide road.
Mr Haughey had been expected to sell some of his assets to raise money to pay legal and tax bills. He recently gave an undertaking to the Revenue Commissioners to pay £1 million before October. By the end of the year, he is also likely to face further tax bills following the completion of the Moriarty tribunal.
The land now going for sale is zoned for a "village-style" development and is expected to make around £500,000 an acre. A five-acre site belonging to another land owner a short distance away is also on the market at £500,000 an acre.
The 9.7 acres are on the boundary of Mr Haughey's 250-acre estate, the centre-piece of which is his large Gandon mansion, Abbeville. Mr Haughey recently appointed Malahide estate agents O'Farrell Cleere to offer the land for sale directly to developers on a private treaty basis. A brochure with an aerial photograph of the land is being circulated privately.
The land is directly opposite the small Catholic church in Kinsealy and has 98 ft of frontage on to Malahide Road and 49 ft on to Baskin Lane, where two of his sons, Sean and Ciaran, have large modern homes.
The land is difficult to value because under the new Rural Village zoning (RV1), no one can yet say precisely what kind of development will be allowed by Fingal County Council. Developments permitted under this zoning include residential schemes, neighbourhood shopping, offices under 1,076 sq ft and enterprise or training centres.
Douglas Hyde of Fingal County Council said the RV1 zoning was introduced last October for a number of villages, including Oldtown, Garristown and Kinsealy, with the intention of first drawing up area plans. The council was not yet in a position to do this. Mr Hyde said the council would be anxious to retain the character of the existing urban settlements in these villages. "We don't want to raise expectations . . . we don't want over development."
Of the 20 acres thought to have been given the RV1 zoning in Kinsealy, about half of it is owned by Mr Haughey. There is both a water main and a sewage pumping station adjacent to the land.
Mr Haughey is also selling a seaside cottage on nine acres in Lislarry, Co Sligo. It is expected to make £100,000-plus
