This article is from page 15 of the 2006-08-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 15 JPG
AN ENNIS business consortium has bought the whole Island of Ireland – and they paid just €20 million for it.
And in this Ireland, you can take a water taxi to Thailand for lunch, do dinner in New York and still be back in Eireann before pub closing time.
The Ireland in question is a man-made island off the coast of Dubai, measuring five acres and is part of a project called The World in which countries are represented by smaller islands shaped like the originals.
Ray Norton, MD of Larionova has teamed up for the investment with his brother-in-law, Andrew Brett and property developer, Noel Conlon, both from Ennis as well as John O’Dolan from Galway.
“We will try to build a vision of Ireland on the land – that is the Ireland of 2007 – and we are currently developing plans for what we hope will be landmark buildings that will truly represent our country,” Norton said.
There are plans for 170 apartments and some villas with their own marinas, with prices on the properties ranging from €400,000 to €1.9 million.
The development will be worth €125 million in all and Norton is hoping that it will attract some Irish investors, although the local market in Dubai is the most likely one.
Larionova is also the exclusive Irish agent for Dubai Sports City, a 2 billion development that will include four sports stadia, a golf course, commercial district and office blocks.