Ireland’s most expensive house to double in size

The mystery owner of Walford, the Shrewsbury Road mansion which is Ireland’s most expensive house, has been granted planning permission by

Dublin City Council

(DCC) to double its size and build four new houses on its grounds.

Walford was originally bought by former journalist Gayle Killilea in 2005 with a gift of €58 million from her now bankrupt husband, developer Seán Dunne.

It was sold to an unknown party for €14 million last year and it is this party that has secured planning permission for the prime site.

The Walford house has a floor area of 427sq m. It has been granted permission to add on to the house a “single storey over basement extension replacing the existing garage and outbuildings, and a two storey extension replacing the existing conservatory.” The expanded house will be 957sq m, making it one of the biggest houses in Dublin 4’s most affluent area.

To the rear of the existing house a new development of four detached houses is proposed around a shared private space.

The houses are 6,500 sq ft each in size and three stories over basement, with a terrace on the first floor level.

DCC has attached 21 conditions to its permission, including measures to protect trees and wildlife.

Walford was previously bought using a trust on the behalf of Ms Killilea. Mr Dunne denied that he purchased it. In his US bankruptcy hearing last month he said what had happened was he had given his wife the money to acquire Walford from "one of my pocket, one of my accounts or one of my companies, or a combination of all three".