With a queue of wealthy Dubliners lining up to buy Glencairn, the British embassy residence at Sandyford, the hunt is on in earnest for a new Dublin residence for the British Foreign Office. Agents all over town have been busy trying to get their clients' houses onto a shortlist being compiled by Hamilton Osborne King. It seems that no less than 15 houses are being lined up for her Majesty's representatives to inspect. Almost certainly one or two of these will be on Shrewsbury Road where it may take more than the rumoured budget of £3 million to shift any of the well-heeled residents.

With the difficulty of finding a suitable detached house in Dublin 4, the Brits must now be reretting that they ever sold their former embassy offices on Merrion Road - two buildings that could have been remodelled to make a decent residence.