The former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, has reached agreement on terms for the sale of his Kinsealy estate in north Co Dublin to property developers Treasury Holdings Ltd.
It is understood that Treasury has agreed to pay more than £30 million for the 250-acre holding, in the confident expectation that it will be rezoned for large-scale residential development.
The deal, which is the subject of a confidentiality agreement binding both sides, will require Capital Gains Tax clearance, but since Abbeville is the Haughey family home this should not be a problem.
Treasury has already purchased a site of 10 acres on the road frontage of the estate for £6 million, with a rural village zoning for commercial and other development. This was widely seen as a "foot in the door".
The sale of this parcel of land enabled Mr Haughey to meet a tax demand of £1 million following the revelation at the McCracken tribunal of payments to him by businessman Mr Ben Dunne.
He is expected to face further demands from the Revenue Commissioners for unpaid tax, following the Moriarty tribunal's estimate that he received some £8.5 million in payments.
Given the former Taoiseach's poor health and the fact that members of his family have their own homes, it was regarded as inevitable that Abbeville would be sold sooner or later.
"The land is entirely re zonable apart from its owner," one source said yesterday.
"It is outside Dublin Airport's zone of flight paths and is capable of being serviced with water and sewerage."
This source also believed a major residential development at Kinsealy would comply with the Strategic Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area in terms of consolidating the metropolitan area.
Zoned at present for agricultural use, Abbeville's future will hinge on the next review of Fingal County Council's development plan, which is being drafted.
It could be rezoned by a simple majority vote.
Discussions between agents acting for Mr Haughey and for Treasury Holdings have been going on for some time, but neither side would confirm on the record that an agreement on the sale had been reached.
It is understood, however, that the terms of the agreement would allow Mr Haughey to continue living at his James Gandon-designed home until his death. The listed house might then be refurbished as a hotel.
The former Taoiseach is believed to have had direct contact only once with Treasury's principals, Mr Richard Barrett and Mr Johnny Ronan, when they met him at Kinsealy to seal the earlier 10-acre purchase.
Treasury Holdings is one of the largest and most successful property companies in Ireland, with such major developments under way as the Central Park out-of-town office scheme in Sandyford.
Its Westin Hotel in College Street opens next Saturday, following a long-running battle with conservationists.
It was also involved in a huge controversy over its plans for Spencer Dock in the Docklands area.
Mr Haughey bought Abbeville in 1969, while serving as minister for finance, for just over £200,000.
In the same year, he sold his 45-acre Grangemore estate, north of Raheny, for a similar sum.
Grangemore was later developed by the Gallagher Group, headed by the late Mr Matt Gallagher and, until its collapse in 1982, by his son, Mr Patrick Gallagher, who remains friendly with Mr Haughey.
The former Taoiseach had agreed to sell Abbeville to the Gallagher Group shortly before it went into receivership, but the receiver could find no record of that proposed deal.
In the late 1980s, while Mr Padraig Flynn was minister for the environment, Mr Haughey agreed to the location of a sewage treatment plant on his land to serve the adjoining Baskin Cottages.
The initiative for this came from Mr Flynn's Department, rather than the county council, and it was widely seen at the time - not least by Ms Nora Owen TD (FG) - as a vehicle to serve Abbeville.
