With one fell swoop, Fianna Fail's debts will be wiped out next week and the party should suddenly be £1 million in the black instead of £1 million in the red. With most political parties used to running huge overdrafts, this is an enviable position and in keeping with the ending of brown envelopes and the nod-and-a-wink days, it is all totally legitimate and transparent. Next Wednesday, Aras de Valera, 13 Upper Mount Street, Dublin, headquarters of FF since 1928, goes under the hammer of auctioneer Joe McPeake, with a guide price of £1.95 million. All being well this time next week FF will be £1 million in credit.
The building, which has seen many a historic occasion, is four storeys over basement and although in office use throughout, it is very much the sort of Georgian houses now being turned back into elegant residences. FF moved to leased, open-plan offices in Lower Mount Street in January - "to be more efficient and use space more effectively, not to make money", said an FF source, before adding, "these old houses might suit more laid-back operations, there are plenty of cubbyholes for little naps".
What he is getting at, of course, is the rival party. Fine Gael headquarters remain across the road in Upper Mount Street, so no longer can the country's two biggest parties make faces at each other from opposite sides. Now FF is across from Howl at the Moon - a pub/nightclub.