Irene Keogh moved into her penthouse apartment overlooking Dublin's Grand Canal basin two years ago. "I'd just come back from New York where I was used to looking at everything from a height. I came to view this on the magic of a sunny day and it was just stunning. I loved the light and space and the fact that it's not overlooked by anything else. The light really sold it to me."
A big bonus here is her terrace, measuring some 50 by 20 feet. "It's the size of an average garden; I open the doors onto it at the start of May and leave them like that until September. I can sleep with them open because there are no neighbours - the only thing that can see me is a passing helicopter. During the summer, my terrace becomes like another room."
Although external security is substantial ("it's like trying to get into Fort Knox here"), once inside, she can feel remarkably safe. The views are also exceptional. From her bedroom, Irene sees the Wicklow Mountains - "this morning they were covered in snow" - her kitchen looks out to Dun Laoghaire harbour while other windows offer a panoramic sweep of the Liffey and Dublin's docks. "I like to keep it all open-plan inside. Builders try to create a semi-detached environment in apartments and this was supposed to be like that but I made sure they didn't put up lots of little walls. It's now a modern loft space which was quite new even a couple of years ago, but people are getting used to that now."