Like many other new housing precincts around the country, the Johnstown area of Navan, in Co Meath, has hundreds of houses in serious negative equity. Most of them were bought at the peak of the market by Dublin families.

But even Johnstown residents will have been taken aback this week when local auctioneer Raymond Potterton put a reserve price of just €85,000 on a particularly well-kept four-bed semi in the area. The same house sold a few years ago for €380,000.

This time round it is for auction on May 1st at the request of none other than the Criminal Assets Bureau. The agency seized the house and two high-value cars after telling the High Court it was satisfied they were the proceeds of crime.

The owner Michael “Micka” Kelly (30), a convicted drug dealer, was subsequently shot dead in a gangland attack in Dublin.

Apparently the house has been upgraded to the highest spec. “The house is a little gem,” says the agency spokeswoman.