The Government has been urged to buy Micheal Flatley’s mansion, which is also the ancestral home of the first president of Ireland.

Last featured in these pages over two years ago, the very impressive estate of Newhall House in Co Clare is due to be sold at public auction on June 9 at the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis.

Developer Seán Dunne has failed to overturn his Irish bankruptcy but will apply on Monday to recover property seized by the official assignee in bankruptcy from a luxury house in Co Kildare, the ownership of which was described by a High Court judge as “somewhat vague”.