Treasury Holdings, the property development company, is believed to have agreed in principle to pay around £6 million for a small part of the Kinsealy estate in north Dublin owned by the former Taoiseach, Charles Haughey. The 9.7 acres fronts on to the main Dublin-Malahide road.

Mr Haughey is expected to use the proceeds of the sale to pay legal and tax bills. He has undertaken to pay £1 million by October 1st to the Revenue Commissioners following discoveries by the McCracken Tribunal and may face further tax bills as a result of the Moriarty Tribunal.

The land, which is zoned for a "village-style" development, was offered for sale to a selected number of developers by estate agents O'Farrell Cleere, which represented Mr Haughey. Treasury Holdings, owned by John Ronan and Richard Barrett, is one of the biggest players in the Dublin property market. It is involved in a number of high-profile developments including the massive Spencer Dock scheme in the Dublin docklands.

An Bord Pleanala last week refused planning permission for the major part of the £1.2 billion project. Treasury is also developing 1.75 million sq ft of office space at Central Park, in Leopardstown, and the Westin Hotel in College Street.

The 9.7 acres run along one of the boundaries of Mr Haughey's 250-acre estate. It is directly opposite the small Catholic church in Kinsealy and has 98 ft of frontage on to the Malahide Road and 49 ft on to Baskin Lane, where two sons, Sean and Ciaran, have modern homes.

A handful of developers inspected the Kinsealy land but some of them apparently found it difficult to put a precise value on it because under the new Rural Village zoning (RV1), there has been no indication yet from Fingal County Council as to the size and scale of schemes likely to be allowed.

Douglas Hyde, of Fingal County Council, said he expected that an action plan for Kinsealy would be ready by Christmas. However, developments permitted under this zoning include residential schemes, neighbourhood shopping, offices under 1,076 sq ft and enterprise or training centres.

Another site of 6.5 acres at Kinsealy Lane with the same zoning was sold recently at auction for £2.9 million.