Originally a medieval fortress Luttrellstown Castle, contents and 570 acres of land are to be auctioned.
Amongst the guests to have stayed at Luttrellstown Castle over the years are Queen Margrete of Denmark, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and President Karl Carstens of Germany.
Many guests of the nation have been hosted at Luttrellstown Castle.
The castle and grounds at Castleknock, Dublin is currently owned by the Honorable Mrs Aileen Plunkett, a member of the Guinness family. Mrs Plunkett is moving to live in London.
Luttrellstown Castle was rebuilt early in the last century. The castle and 570 acres of land is now up for sale and expected to fetch around three and a half million pounds. The contents of the house are also going to auction at Christie's of London and Hamilton Estates. and should raise around a million pounds.
Christie's representative in Ireland, the Knight of Glin, says it will be the Irish sale of the century. A suite of French furniture from the ballroom is said to be worth £100,000. The extendable dining room table is valued at between £20,000 and £30,000.
The superb carpet made for Czar Nicolas I in Russia is probably worth around £30,000.
The Knight of Glin acknowledges that the sale of these items to foreign buyers is a great loss to Ireland but the fine art world market moves very freely. He feels that items of specific Irish importance should be protected from foreign sale.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 23 June 1983. The reporter is Joe O'Brien.
