The Strathmore group fighting to stop the sale of the Canadian ambassador's residence in Killiney, Co Dublin isn't giving up, even though the deadline for tenders for the Victorian house on nine acres is today.
But it seems Canada isn't the only country re-assessing its property portfolio worldwide: the US government has recently put more than a dozen diplomatic residences up for sale in cities from Bogota to Bangkok.
Unlike the Canadians, it seems the US isn't doing it to save money, but because it's moving staff abroad into more modern and secure buildings. Ironically, one of the finest of these residences is in Canada's capital, Ottawa: the US is selling its three-storey house there for Cdn$2.85 million (a paltry €2m).
Other houses it's selling include one in Belize lovingly remembered by a former US ambassador for its well-groomed gardens: it's for sale for just €450,000, while one in Caracas on 2.2 acres is on offer for €1.5m. But the US has no plans, it seems, to sell any properties in Ireland - and it doesn't own its handsome Georgian residence in the Phoenix Park, which has been leased from the Irish government since the first US envoy arrived here in 1927.
Back in Killiney, the Canadians are hoping to get €17m for Strathmore, put up for sale as part of a worldwide review of its property portfolio. (Its price tag for a mansion on Grosvenor Square in London is €432m.) But the Save Strathmore protesters have met Canadian Ambassador Pat Binns, who indicated to one of its members that a delegation from the Canadian government may visit Ireland to assess the situation.
Strathmore's selling agent David Bewley of Lisney is confident he will get a number of tenders for Strathmore by today's noon deadline, although interest in the property so far seems to have been light.
A decision on the sale will take up to six weeks.
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