A Cypriot businessman bought Horse Island off the coast of West Cork. The purchase was made last year, but now it has been published in the files of the local Land Registry. John Renos, who has business interests in China and Germany, paid 5.5 million euros for the 157-acre island during the pandemic, without even going to see the island. Instead, settle for a video tour!
The island is located in Roaring Water Bay and was sold by former banker Adrian Fitzgibbon and his wife Deborah. The Fitzgibbons had originally requested 6.75 million euros for the land, which includes seven houses, a pier and a helipad.
The Cypriot businessman had asked the London-based company Montague Real Estate to find a safe private island in Europe.
The island is off the coast of Schull, while the modern main residence on Horse Island has six bedrooms and covers more than 400 sq.m. There are six guest accommodations and three beaches, where seals and other wildlife are said to be a common sight.
The former owner of the island, Adrian Fitzgibbon, tried to set up a whiskey distillery and visitor center on the island in 2014, but An Bord Pleanala refused permission. He also tried to raise wagyu cattle before deciding to sell them.
Owned by Fitzgibbon, the island has been upgraded and now has its own power supply from wind turbines and three diesel generators, its own well water supply and new sewer system.
Knight Frank Alex Robinson, who helped sell the island, said last year that the market reflected the pandemic tendency of wealthy people to target real estate in “remote locations”.
The island was home to a thriving copper industry in the 19th century, with 137 inhabitants in 1841. The last permanent residents left in the 1960s.
Source: thetimes.co.uk
