Price cut in paradise

MERMAID Isle was Lori and Kevin O’Farrell’s bit of paradise: hidden away down a boreen between Sneem and Caherdaniel,

Mermaid is two oceanfront homes on 25-plus acres, including half of a 26-acre island, just offshore.

Kevin O’Farrell, a Californian museum designer and author who came to Sneem for three weeks in 1984, bought this bit of marine heaven – where dolphins cruise the rockpools and seals swim under the livingroom windows – and has lived there with his wife Lori for close to 30 years.

Just over three years ago, they put it up for sale with a price tag of €7.5 million: their children and grandchildren live in California, and they want to go home.

Since then, they’ve reduced the price a few times and have now cut it to €2.95 million, a 65 per cent cut on what they’d hoped to get back in 2008.

The main house, a striking 418sq m (4,500sq ft) timber building warmed by turf-fuelled stoves, has the sea on three sides. There’s also a cute one-bedroom guest cottage and two party-sized hot tubs right on the water.

Several agents are handling the sale – click on mermaidisle.net.