The Department of Defence is expected to secure in excess of £7 million for part of the former Devoy Army Barracks on 14 acres at Naas, Co Kildare. The property is to be sold by tender on July 12th through agents GVA Donal O Buachalla.

The main barracks, along with eight acres, are being transferred to Naas Urban District Council and Kildare Co Council for the development of civic offices.

Jack Devlin of the selling agents says that the buildings now going for sale along with the former sports fields are likely to be demolished to make way for new housing.

The site has already been zoned for new housing in the town development plan. Unusually, the planners are to allow a density of at least 20 apartments per acre on half of the site. The density of the remainder is likely to be at least 12 semi-detached houses per acre.

The zoning also permits some neighbourhood shopping and services which would benefit from the close proximity to the proposed civic offices.

The land being sold is convenient to the town centre and is also a short distance from the Newhall intersection with the N7 motorway. Naas is one of the fastest growing urban centres in the greater Dublin area with house prices frequently on a par with suburban Dublin levels.

The sale of the Naas lands is part of a strategy by the Department of Defence to sell surplus property and reinvest the proceeds on refurbishing other army facilities.

Devoy Barracks, originally built by the British in 1813, was handed over to the army in 1922 and subsequently renamed after the celebrated Fenian John Devoy. The Army Apprentice School was established there in 1956 and the barracks continued to be used for this purpose until it was vacated in 1998.