Quinn: Selling mansion due to 'empty nest syndrome'

The 5,500sq ft mansion is an equestrian paradise with 10 stables, a horse-walker, all-weather arena, and a riding trail around the 30-acre grounds.

The wife of football legend Niall Quinn has revealed they are selling their millionaire’s mansion due to empty nest syndrome.

Gillian Quinn also said yesterday that the family no longer have a “clatter of ponies and horses” in the surrounding fields.

The former model also admitted on The Ray D’Arcy Show yesterday that the manicured estate — which would fit in perfectly on an episode of Footballer’s Wives — was probably worth twice its €2.5m price tag during the boom.

The 5,500sq ft mansion is an equestrian paradise as it comes complete with its 10 stables, a horse-walker, all-weather arena, and a riding trail around the 30-acre grounds.

She said she and former Irish striker have decided to downsize as their daughter Aisling and son Michael are almost fully grown.

“It was a fantastic house for us 10 years ago when we were raising the kids and we had a clatter loads of horses and ponies and dogs and everything else but all of those facilities are surplus to our requirements.

“It just makes sense to downsize. It’s been coming for a while. Aisling our daughter has moved out. She is in UCD every day and she will be travelling during the summer.

“Niall is away in the UK doing his media work and in Africa a lot. It’s just myself and Mikey and my dad rattling around here a lot of the time. Mikey will be doing his Leaving Cert so hopefully that will be him gone to university.”

The Pilates instructor admitted that the family don’t use up all the “good rooms” in the dream house they built from scratch 12 years ago.

And she joked that she was missing a “few chandeliers” if the house was to fit the bill of the stereotypical blingtastic footballer’s mansion.

“When you’re building a house, you build it as big and as best as you can and you don’t realise all the rooms you’re not going to use.

“Certainly at Christmas and at times like that, we would use rooms like that.”

She said their glass-panelled party room complete with a “baby grand piano” hosted a lot of sing songs over the past decade.

“None of us can play (but) it has been played. We’ve had parties here and we’ve have had different friends who have played and have had different sings-songs.”

She said the all-weather arena at their home was used to “school her dressage horses”.

“We have an electric walker which exercises five horse at the same time. It was great when we were all riding here and Aisling and myself were riding horses every day and going off to competitions and hacking the horses around the land. It’s self contained.”

While the property was an ideal hub for pursuing the family’s equestrian pursuits over the past decade, the main reason for her move is downsizing her collection of horses and ponies.

“The number one man in my life, my stallion, has retired to stud now. I was competing him until last summer. I’ve one horse left outside with a companion and he’s 22. We’re empty. I have 10 dogs. I will still need a fair size garden when we move.

The mother-of-two said she spends most of her time now teaching Pilates and studying for her psychology degree.

“I want to stay in Naas,” Gillian added. “With Niall being away so much, we would like to get a small base in England for him because we are spending a fortune in hotels, and get a house in this area with a garden.”