While many couples are struggling to get onto the first rung of the property ladder, they may be gratified to know that they are, in fact, already part-owners of a rather substantial amount of real estate.
About £2 billion worth - or #2.5 billion. That's the value the Office of Public Works has placed on the accumulated mass of property owned by the State and held in trust on behalf of its citizens. And, for the first time, it has put an estimated value on its top 100 properties, which it has released to The Irish Times commercial property section.
Top of the list is Dublin Castle where, appropriately enough, ownership of the State was handed over to Michael Collins in January 1922. The OPW estimates its value now at £124 million (#157 million).
Next on the list is Government Buildings in Merrion Street, Dublin, which the OPW values at £80 million (#101 million). In the late 1980s there was controversy when the then Taoiseach, Mr Haughey, spent £17 million of public money refurbishing it after it was vacated by the College of Science.
The Phoenix Park is valued at £72 million (#91 million), which seems a snip given the several thousand houses that could be built there . . . if ever it was sold and permission granted, which is virtually certain never to happen.
Leinster House, the home of Dail Eireann, is valued at £65 million (#83 million). Other valuations include: the Custom House, Dublin (£45/#57 million), the Four Courts, Dublin (£37/#46.9 million), Aras an Uachtarain (£27/#34 million - only £1 million more that the Department of Social Welfare in Hawkins House, Dublin), and the OPW reckons that its own abode (50/52 St Stephen's Green) is worth £50/#63 million.
According to the OPW, the valuations were calculated on what they describe as a formula basis and have been indexed. In due course, the Office would be reassessing values on a fully professional basis.
While Dublin Castle is the most valuable of the properties (and an independent property source reckoned the estimate of £124/#157 million was "about right"), it also makes a contribution to the State's coffers. Last year, almost £2 million was generated by guided tours, conferences and B&B in the State Apartments.