Interest in rural property soars as Covid-19 effect kicks in

Charlie McCarthy, an auctioneer who has sold houses, farms and even islands in west Cork for almost half a century, takes the calls on Coom Hill as he looks out on to the Atlantic. The last time the telephone rang so frequently back in his Skibbereen office was amid Cold War hysteria in mainland Europe during the 1970s, when German newspapers argued that west Cork was the safest place to avoid the impact of nuclear conflict. “The Germans and the Dutch came over in their droves. It was to do with the prevailing southwesterly winds,” he says. In recent weeks, the phone has been ringing off the hook again