A consortium headed by the property developer, Mr Jerry O'Reilly, has paid around £36 million (€45.7 million) for a 14.5 acre site owned by the Religious Sisters of Charity at Merrion Road, Dublin 4. It is the highest price achieved for a development site in Dublin.

The land is to be used for a mixed commercial and residential development which is likely to include several hundred apartments and a large-scale office scheme. The zoning will also allow the new owners to seek permission for a science and technology centre, a private hospital and a "park and ride" complex because of its location opposite a disused DART station on the Merrion Road. Most of the car parking on the site will be below ground level.

Agents Spain Courtney Doyle is advising the consortium while Farley Property represented the Sisters of Charity. Mr O'Reilly handled the development of the ACC headquarters and the Stakis Hotel (now trading as the Hilton Hotel) at Charlemont Square, Dublin 2, and is one of the main shareholders in a company completing Bishop's Square, a large office scheme at Kevin Street in Dublin which has been pre-let. He is also owner of the Aghadoe Heights Hotel in Killarney.

Most of the leading property developers were in contention for the site, which is one of the last and most important stretches of land zoned for redevelopment to have come on the market in Dublin 4 for decades. The site is located behind a high wall directly opposite the Jacobs International office block on the Merrion Road and is divided from the Caritas Convalescent Centre by a partially tidal stream.