Unoccupied houses in a Co Monaghan estate have been put on the market with an asking price from just €30,000.

Land in Ireland once earmarked for homes and offices is being sold at knockdown prices to farmers, sometimes the same farmers who made fortunes selling it in the boom years, as swathes of the country return to its agricultural roots.

NO longer will the showroom or even the showhouse suffice - for the modern buyer nothing less than a show village will do.

IT wasn’t exactly a steal for the buyers but the auction of Martin Cahill’s former home didn’t represent daylight robbery by the sellers either.