A raised finger, a perfunctory nod, a lifted eyebrow, even a wink. The shrewd farmers respond quietly but quickly and the bidding rises under the direction of the auctioneer - "70, 70, I have 370. Do I hear 80, 80, will anyone give me 380, 80, 80, I have 380."

Like a true professional, Woody O'Neill can do the sing-song patter of the livestock auctioneer. He watched his late father conduct the bidding and strike the hammer at enough packed cattle marts in and around Mullingar, Co Westmeath, to know how it's done. Besides being able to wield the hammer, "to be good, as an auctioneer of this type, you need a quick eye, a clear voice, a thick neck and a good understanding of the market," says O'Neill. "You need that whether it's for turkeys or cattle or a £6 million property in Dublin." And, he adds, it's vital to be in control, to be decisive and level-headed.

"I'd look up to him quite a lot, but that line of work wouldn't be in my day-to-day job," he says. Today he works in Dublin with Jones Lang La Salle in the valuation section.

"When you're selling a property, you're dealing with more money so you have to take your time but I've never held a property auction yet." A wisteful note creeps into his voice.

"My father dealt with a little bit of property as well. He brought me around and I was shown farms from the time I was knee-high to a barge pole. There was never a time when I was thinking of anything else. I was always focused on auctioneering." Experience in the cattle market gives a great feeling for the way deals are done. "There's none tighter than a farmer," says O'Neill. "They'll squeeze for every penny. Buying and selling is an art. Making a deal between two farmers is as tough as making a deal on a £2 million office block."

After his Leaving Cert, he went on to DIT Bolton Street to do a diploma in auctioneering, valuation and estate agency. "It wasn't what I expected. It had none of the elements that I had been involved in, in the rural context. But I still had the background to give me some understanding of the business etiquette."

He liked the practical projects on the course. "You have to do your own projects, research and compile feasability studies, interview auctioneers, " he explains. There were 40 in first year when he started, with a 50/50 gender ratio.

Before he finished college, O'Neill went to the United States and worked with a real estate brokerage in Chicago during the summer of 1996. "It gave me a good insight into the property market, and the American way, and how up-to-date they were," he says. He got to show multi-million dollar mansions to celebrities, among them basketball player Scotti Pippin.

O'Neill was given another valuable insight into the property market back in Ireland when he worked for four months in with Younge Auctioneers, a small Dublin office which specialises in the sale of pubs. "I was John Younge's assistant," he says, "cycling around for the summer showing the pubs to clients."

After graduation, he worked on the Consultancy and Research Unit for the Built Environment (CRUBE) project. This involved compiling reports including measurements on all OPW property around the country. "It was a great stepping stone, a great way to get experience."

He joined Jones Lang La Salle about two years ago, starting in the retail section. "It was extremely busy and different to what I expected," he recalls. "It was busier, there was more to it than I imagined, more detailed. It was exciting.

"I often have to go down the country to view property. I'm going to Drogheda today. That's one of the most attractive aspects of the job - you go out and about and meet different people and see different properties."

He never thought of doing anything else, says O'Neill. His eldest brother is a chartered surveyor and an estate agent, while another older brother is a quantity surveyor. "Yes, the bottom line is that it's all about money. It's greedy in a sense but it's how to handle the greed," he says, rising to defend his profession. "You always have to see yourself as the agent, you're advising on possible deals and the value of property, which is not giving people a warrant to be greedy. You're giving them a stepping stone.

"It's a people's game, a people business. It's a buying and selling game. It's about negotiation." Before he leaves for Drogheda, he turns back with a quick word of advice for "anyone who comes from the country and wants to go back." It would be wise, he says, to "spend their time in the city and gain experience in some big office" and with that he's out the door, with all the surveyor's paraphernalia in his pockets - measuring tape, note-book, camera, mobile phone and map.