Clare Island Lighthouse - A Nice Birthday Gift
By Sue Clark on May 10, 2008 in For Sale 
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Happy Birthday Honey, Here’s Your Gift
Clare Island Lighthouse has been sold at auction to a German doctor, who bought it for his wife as a birthday present. So, just how do you wrap up such an item? And how do you explain you spent € 1.05 million for this lighthouse on a cliff in County Mayo, Ireland? And how do you deal with the islanders who are understandably upset that a piece of their history was so blithely sold without the chance for them as a community to purchase it themselves? According to a story in The Mayo News, Clare Island businesswoman Anna Wettergren has criticized the State’s failure to buy important heritage buildings such as the lighthouse.
“The lighthouse is situated in an incredibly beautiful location on the edge of cliffs at the northern face of the island. It has lain largely empty for the last number of years, which is really a pity. There should have been some sort of Government facility which allows communities [to] buy such properties that are integral to the history of an area,” said Ms Wettergren, a long-time resident, who operates a cafe at her cottage during the summer months.
Two years ago, islanders called on their minister, Eamon O Cuiv, to lobby for the state to purchase the real estate. However, he declined, stating that the State had already a huge portfolio of heritage properties and “is not in the business of buying privately-owned properties, so hard choices had to be made.”
Lighthouse Was a Hard Sell
Originally built in1806, it was decommissioned in 1965 because fog often obscured its beam. It was replaced by an unmanned lighthouse on Achillbeg. It was then sold to an Irish American couple, and then to a Belgian couple, Robert and Monica Timmermans, who invested lots of money to bring the old house up to a livable state. It was used as a rental by them, with such local VIPs as the television star Ray D’Arcy and Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith staying there. It was sold again in the late 1990s to Lady Georgina Forbes.
Offered at first for €2.1 million, it languished on the market for months. Recently, though, in an effort to move the property, the price was dropped to €500,000. That move had the opposite effect: too many buyers were now interested. So, Lady Forbes did the smart thing and auctioned it instead, getting twice as much as the last offered price, although only half as much as the original price tag.
So, to the lucky lady whose husband got her such an amazing gift, Lighthouse News wishes you a Happy Birthday, and have lots of fun unwrapping it. 
Photo credit: Clare Island Lighthouse from lb3595 on Community Webshots.
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