Dessie O'Malley is in the news these days for the events of the early 1970s, but whatever the rights and wrongs of the Arms Crisis, he certainly made one astute move at that time when he was Minister for Justice. He bought a large detached house at Temple Villas, off Palmerston Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6, for what must now seem a modest sum. Like many other empty-nesters, he and his wife Pat have just cashed in their chips and sold it for around £2 million (#2.54).

The 3,500 sq ft house with four receptions rooms and six bedrooms did not come on the open market but was sold in private negotiations by an equally shrewd estate agent, his son Des, who is based in Limerick. The house is a far cry from the days when he was basically living in hiding and advised by the Gardai not to spend more than a week in any one place. Des has already spent some of his tax-free windfall on a fine apartment in Ballsbridge. His childhood was spent in an even more prestigious house at Corbally in Limerick but he said recently on television that he turned it down because he and his wife thought it too big for their needs. That was before they had six children.