West Cork restaurant could again become a fine family residence

WILL it be a case of back to basics, and the way it was, at the one-time west Cork home of billionaire businessman Dermot Desmond?

Up for sale in the chic west Cork village of Baltimore is the Customs House, run as a star restaurant in the past few years by a US/Irish couple, and now seriously reduced in price from €700,000 to €400,000 – which puts it within the grasp of private buyers who may use it as a townhouse. It is right in the heart of the village, almost in the shadow of the well-restored Baltimore castle, now a privately-owned house.

Decades ago, Customs House was, for a while, the family home of Dermot Desmond, the man who was very largely behind the rise of Dublin’s IFSC. Desmond’s own background is usually more associated with his home town of Macroom, but his father worked for the Customs Service, and spent some time in Baltimore, in this house. Might some financial good luck rub off on the next owners?