Ireland has already seen its religious orders selling off land. Now it is the members of some of the country's exclusive golf clubs who are voting to cash in their greens and fairways to make way for new housing.

Some clubs have pulled off attractive deals with developers, but others may be too late to the party amid signs the Irish property boom has ended. Gerard McDonnell of Pembroke McDonnell estate agents believes the reality is rather worse. "Prices are down 10 per cent and that's if you get it," he says.