Albert and Kathleen Reynolds are selling their large Ailesbury Road home where neighbours include half a dozen embassies. Michael Parsonsreports
Former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and his wife Kathleen are selling their Ballsbridge home, the large Victorian redbrick that they moved to after Mr Reynolds resigned in 1994.
The five-bedroom house is for sale by private treaty through Sherry FitzGerald at €15 million. The Reynolds are moving to a penthouse apartment in the Four Seasons Hotel where Mr Reynolds plans to write his memoirs.
The house is at close to the junction with Merrion Road with a view over Wanderers rugby grounds at the back.
A sentry box, manned by a fresh-faced Garda (the ultimate home accessory), signals the entrance to number 18 where granite steps lead to a hall door lacquered a Kandinsky-yellow.
It is by no means the grandest house on this Monopoly purple patch - it's semi-detached) yet offers 464sq m (5,000sq ft) of the most prestigious and sought-after accommodation for sale in Ireland today.
The Reynolds are leaving because "it's too big for two people" now that all their seven children have left home.
Surrounded by photographs of the glory years, (with Queen Elizabeth, John Major, Helmut Kohl, Bill Gates) the former taoiseach reminisces expansively about his role in the Northern Ireland peace process and negotiating budgets with European heads-of-state until his wife firmly interjects: "Albert, you've got a house to sell!"
But Albert is far too busy recounting anecdotes about Bill (Clinton) and Gusty (Spence) to notice. Kathleen's rolls her eyes in a gesture of exasperated affection.
The two-storey-over-garden-level Victorian residence is currently arranged as a five-bedroom, four-bathroom, two-kitchen, spacious family home (the main suite alone is 56sq m/600sq ft) which has been "extensively refurbished and upgraded".
That's unlikely to prevent CD-plated skips from appearing as new owners spend the equivalent of the Baltic States' GNP creating a new look.
Outside, there's a carport, generous off-street parking and, to the rear, a marquee-friendly, 150ft garden (which Mrs Reynolds loves and "will really miss"), a "fully functioning" bar, two guest toilets and extensive patios for relaxing or entertaining.
A veranda off the livingroom, perfect for plein-air dining, overlooks a crew-cut emerald lawn.
But you'll be overlooked (and indeed also enjoy reciprocal views into the neighbouring gardens) because even €15 million doesn't secure absolute privacy on this road.
Your princelings can be schooled at posh St Michael's College (almost directly opposite) and later graduate into trust-fund loafers at the nearby UCD campus.
There's golf at Elm Park (if you can get in); smart shopping a stroll away at Merrion Village; and care at St Vincent's Hospital. Donnybrook Church is at the end of the Road.
RTÉ is just around the corner should you need to broadcast to the nation.
And, if you ever run out of sugar, you can always borrow a Sèvres porcelain cupful from neighbours who include the Austrian, Chinese, French, Mexican, Polish, Romanian and Swiss embassies - as well as some of Ireland's richest and most discreet families.
Incidentally, the Reynolds are not quite saying "goodbye yellowbrick road, where the dogs of society howl".
They're moving to a swanky apartment in the nearby Four Seasons Hotel complex so there's no going back to the plough.
To paraphrase an advertisement for Patek Philippe: "You never actually own an Ailesbury Road house. You merely look after it for the next generation."
