DUBLIN, January 17, 2008 - The residence of the French ambassador in
Ireland is on sale for 60 million euros (89 million dollars) -- almost double
the previous record price for a Dublin home, auctioneers said Thursday.
   The 11-bedroom mansion in the Ballsbridge suburb is set to be one of the
largest homes ever sold close to the city centre.
   With a floor area of 11,450 square ft (1,065 square metres), the house is
10 times bigger than the average Dublin three-bedroomed home.
   "This is an absolute one-off, there is not a better private house in Dublin
or indeed in Ireland," said John O'Sullivan, director of Lisney auctioneers,
the firm selling the property.
   "Nobody could believe this house would ever come up for sale."
   Owned by the French government since 1930 and home to the ambassador since
1965, the house also comes with 1.75 acres (0.72 hectares) of garden and a
coach house.
   French ambassador Yvon Roe d'Albert told The Irish Times newspaper that the
residence was so large, he had not yet been in all the rooms.
   "It is so big that sometimes I have to call my wife on her mobile phone if
I want to talk to her," he said.
   Also up for sale on the opposite side of Ailesbury Road is the French
embassy chancery building, a two-storey house with an acre (0.4 hectares) of
garden. It has a 20-million-euro price tag.
   The previous record price for a house in Dublin being sold as a home was
over 30 million euros, for a property nearby.
   Ailesbury Road, which the house is on, is one of the most fashionable
addresses in Dublin with houses there eagerly sought by the new super-rich of
the Celtic Tiger economy.
   Former prime minister Albert Reynolds sold his home on the road last year.
   Ireland's property market has been hit by a downturn, with prices dropping
by about 10 percent last year.
   However, O'Sullivan said the French government would not lose out, as
"trophy homes" in the city were not being hit.

AFP