2 weeks Ago
5 Pembroke Cottages, Donnybrook, Dublin 4 Asking price: €685,000 Agent: Borgman Earls Property Consultants, (01) 662 5931 Emigration amongst young people in Ireland shows no sign of abating. A total of 30,000 people aged between 18 and 34 left our shores between 2023 and 2024, according to Central Statistics Office. The rising cost of living, financial security and the housing crisis are typically cited as reasons.
Take Oisín Heavey. Despite working as a secondary school teacher, the now 35-year-old knew his only chance of ever buying a house in the capital was to move abroad. “I loved teaching, but I knew I could never afford to live in Dublin if I stuck at it,” says the owner of 5 Pembroke Cottages in Donnybrook, Dublin.
“I took the leap into the business of education as a result.” Read more Heavey, who comes from Sandycove in Dublin, spent his 20s travelling and working in Asia, the US and Canada. He had run a business school in Vietnam for three years when he returned to Ireland for the summer of 2018.
Despite having accepted a new job offer in China, which would start at the end of the summer, he was keeping an eye out for employment here and began to look at property. He was influenced by his grandmother Mary Heavey. “I’m extremely close to her, and she really didn’t want me to move to China,” he says.
“But I wasn’t sure about settling in Ireland either.” The exterior of the Pembroke Cottages property The course of his life changed, however, the day he came to view 5 Pembroke Cottages, a renovated artisan cottage in Donnybrook, built in the 1890s for the keepers of Herbert Park. “It absolutely blew me away,” he says of the 750 sq ft home.
“There’s a wow factor when you come in the front door. It looks tiny from the outside, so you’d never guess that it was so spacious and light-filled.” A high-pitched ceiling with skylights adds to the feeling of space, and floods the house with natural light.
The open-plan living area Thoughtfully laid out, the cottage has an open-plan layout and a large master bedroom on the ground floor, with stairs leading to an attic room and en-suite bathroom upstairs. Heavey bought the cottage in January 2019, and at the same time was offered a job in Dublin. “I decided not to take the role in China,” he explains.
“It all landed at the same time, but it was very unlikely I’d have stayed here otherwise.” From the moment he moved into the cottage, he knew he’d made the right decision. “I loved living in the house, the location, and all my neighbours.
They made me feel immediately welcome,” he says. The dining area Number 5 was previously owned by a woman who lived there for 30 years, and had extended it at the back in 2008. It needed little work.
“I made some energy efficient upgrades. For example, I replaced the front door but kept the teal green colour,” says Heavey. He also replaced the boiler, and had a bespoke consul table and a breakfast counter extension built.
As a moving-in gift, his mother hired a painter to redecorate the cottage in pristine white and cream tones. All the artwork on the walls – save for a painting of Grafton Street and another of Sandycove in living room – he collected on his travels in Asia. The stone water feature in the south-west facing patio also has a Vietnam connection, as Heavey’s father bought it when he visited.
The back yard “It’s called the Saigon Sun, as Saigon is the informal name for Ho Chi Minh City, where I was living, and it reminded him of me. He gave it to me as it fitted perfectly in the yard.” This space can be accessed from the master bedroom via French doors.
“When they’re open in the summer and you’re lying in bed, you get a belt of sun through the room and it’s just gorgeous,” says Heavey. “In fact, you get the sun there from about 11am into the early evening. In the mornings, you can open the blinds at the front of the house and the sunlight filters through it.
” The master bedroom He also added storage space under the stairs, with a dog’s bed for his Cockapoo/Cavachon-cross Mossy, which he got after moving in. “I didn’t see myself settling down and getting married. I pictured myself as a forever bachelor.
I thought myself and Mossy would be living in the house for the rest of our days.” The staircase, with storage underneath But his life took another turn when he went on a date during the pandemic with his now wife, Laura Heavy, a tax consultant from Tipperary. “I pretty much knew she was the one straight away,” he says.
The couple married in 2023 and now have a two year-old son called Fionn, and they’re expecting another baby in September. They moved out of 5 Pembroke Road in 2022 as they needed more space, and now live in Foxrock, close to Heavey’s beloved grandmother. The cottage has been rented out since then.
Having lived around the world, Heavey is happy to be settled here now. “We do have struggles with housing and other issues, but by and large, Ireland is a great country to live in. It’s very safe and offers a great quality of life,” he says.
Although he loves the house and appreciates the positive impact it’s had on his life, Heavey is ready to sell it. “I never planned to let it go, but it feels right to do so now as I’ve different priorities,” he says. The shower room He’ll miss his neighbours, though.
“Everyone knows everyone here. You can literally stand outside your door and someone will chat to you, but at the same time, they respect your privacy.” There’s plenty of parking space outside the house, and its central location provides easy access to a wide range of amenities.
“It’s unbelievably quiet but when you walk out of the front door, the main street in Donnybrook is 30 second’s walk away. “Fingers crossed whoever buys No5 will appreciate it. It’s really a very special house.
” The cottage has an asking price of €685,000 with Borgman Earls. Read more.
