Noel Smyth has the best of both worlds. When he was head of Dunloe, before the takeover of Northern Ireland's Ewart, he was perceived solely as a property developer in the Republic. Now as chairman of the combined Dunloe Ewart group he is developing strongly in both markets. He attributes his success in Northern Ireland to the realisation that Dunloe Ewart is an all-Ireland company. But this success is not unrelated to his retention of Ewart's Northern management team. The first commentary on this week's announcement that it had purchased the 16-acre Howden Sirocco site in Belfast for £23 million sterling (€29 million) was made by Barry Gilligan, Northern Ireland director of Dunloe Ewart, the former managing director of Ewart. The second commentary was made by Noel Smyth. Taking a backseat, in Northern Ireland, is paying off.