Casey love nest for sale

A HOUSE, which was the centre of a major scandal in the Catholic Church in the 1990s, has come on the market.

Red Cliff House, the scene of some of former bishop Eamon Casey’s love affair with American divorcee Annie Murphy, is located at Inch, in the Dingle Peninsula. Overlooking Dingle Bay, the house is more than 200 years old and was once a hunting lodge for James Hickson, a land agent for Lord Lansdowne.

The house was mentioned several times in Ms Murphy’s book, Forbidden Fruit, based on the affair with the bishop which led to the birth of their son, Peter.

Red Cliff House has been a guesthouse for several years since Bishop Casey left it in the mid-1970s and commands magnificent sea and mountain views. The property includes eight bedrooms, a library, study, a conservatory, and two wine cellars. It was acquired by the Church in the middle of the 19th century and was used as a presbytery before becoming a summer residence for bishops of Kerry.