Auction a damp squib as only two lots sold

THE auction offering of 65 discounted Irish properties was as damp a squib as the day outside was a washout.

Just two of the 65 lots — an acre in Kerry and 10 acres of west Cork land — were knocked down “under the hammer” at Cork’s Radisson hotel. But, even at that, the top bidder on the land failed to sign contracts, leaving just one “sold at auction” result.

It left the agents talking to one of two underbidders, a man with a pram and two small children, in the hope of selling 10 acres of land at Leap, West Cork, with its planning for horticultural use and polytunnels for €68,000.