Last September, a 4,427 square-metre (47,652 square-foot) office block at 30 Herbert Street, in the heart of Dublin 2’s business district, changed hands for €35 million. Described by its 1990s developer Ronan Group as “an imposing modern classic, reminiscent of art deco architecture”, the building was refurbished in 2022 by its seller, Irish Life. Its tenant list epitomises Ireland’s role as an EU beachhead for international finance: US investment firms Blackstone and Brown Brothers Harriman, and LGT, the private bank owned by Liechtenstein’s royal family. All the way across the country, on Cork’s Kinsale Road, lies a Harvey Norman store…

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