The Coalition Government is today expected to bid up to £25 million for the purchase of Farmleigh mansion and 78 acres of land on the edge of the Phoenix Park in Dublin.
If secured, the Georgian/ Victorian home of the Guinness family will be used to accommodate visiting Heads of State and as an alternative venue to Dublin Castle for State receptions.
The Cabinet discussed the purchase last Wednesday and it is understood that Ministers agreed to bid up to a maximum price of £25m. There was some urgency to their deliberations as the Government was advised that, if a firm bid was not received by today, the mansion would go to public tender.
Two weeks ago the Iveagh Trustees in London informed the Government of its intention to sell the house, which has been the Guinness family seat in Ireland for 130 years, and it appointed Hamilton Osborne King and Knight Frank International as joint selling agents.
The agents announced the property would be available for informal tender from noon on July 29th, unless previously sold. And it quoted a guide price "substantially in excess of £10m".
Farmleigh was lent to the State by the Guinness family in 1975 for the first meeting of foreign ministers after Ireland joined the EU and it is understood a number of Ministers have viewed the property with a view to purchase in recent years.
During the past weeks, the Office of Public Works undertook a detailed structural examination of the three-storey mansion built of Portland stone and of the other properties involved in the sale. It also provided the Government with a valuation of the estate.
Farmleigh has its main entrance from the Phoenix Park, and it comprises six reception rooms, 20 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms. It has a spectacular ballroom, a fine wood-panelled library and a floor area of 40,000 square feet.
The furniture and other fittings including a valuable collection of books - are excluded from the sale. The estate also contains formal walled gardens, a courtyard, eight houses and two apartments.
Farmleigh has only been used on an occasional basis by the Guinness family since the death of the Earl of Iveagh, Benjamin Guinness in 1992. The Government has been urged by the opposition parties in recent days to bid for the property as Farmleigh may represent the last major stately home to become available in Dublin.