{"id":650996,"date":"2026-08-22T17:02:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T17:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/650996\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T17:02:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T17:02:24","slug":"were-well-used-to-seeing-helicopters-knockanore-awaits-latest-billionaire-zuckerberg-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/650996\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re well used to seeing helicopters\u2019: Knockanore awaits latest billionaire Zuckerberg \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cApparently he\u2019s worth $200 billion \u2013 you\u2019d be doing the Shamrocks Lotto for a long time before you\u2019d win that sort of money,\u201d smiled Knockanore native Martin Sheehan, nodding to the sign for the local GAA<\/a> club showing a prize fund this month of \u20ac20,000.<\/p>\n

Martin, like many in the tiny west Waterford<\/a> community of a few hundred souls, was talking about the news that Facebook<\/a> founder, Meta<\/a> chief executive and multi-billionaire Mark Zuckerberg<\/a> had forked out between \u20ac20 and \u20ac30 million for local 19th century stately home Strancally Castle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Previously perhaps best known for Knockanore Farmhouse Cheese, Baldwin\u2019s Ice Cream and local former D\u00e9ise hurler Eoin Murphy, the west Waterford parish flanking the western bank of the Blackwater suddenly found itself making headlines with the news of its most recent arrival.<\/p>\n

Sheehan was talking to local woman Mary Tobin in the grounds of the Sacred Heart Church, who revealed she first heard the news at Mass on Thursday morning after The Irish Times broke the story.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard it at Mass yesterday that he had bought from the Alen-Buckleys. They kept to themselves, but we used to see them at Mass at Christmas and Easter and they had a wedding here a few years back too. We\u2019ve no idea how much we\u2019ll see of Mr Zuckerberg.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Zuckerberg, Colman Kirby and his partner Jemima Ottman are blow-ins to Knockanore, but they were happy to talk about their new neighbour as they did their bit for their adopted home \u2013 finishing off a top-up paint job on the statue of Jesus on the church grounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were rumours a few weeks ago all right, but it wasn\u2019t until we heard it yesterday that we knew for definite,\u201d said Kirby. \u201cBut as one fellow said last night, \u20ac20 to \u20ac30 million is only loose change to him \u2013 sure it\u2019s only a fraction of what he paid for his yacht and his jets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ottman reckons the decision by Texan billionaire Kelcy Warren to buy Waterford Regional Airport and extend the runway so his executive jet can land there may also have been a factor in persuading Zuckerberg to buy Strancally, which is a short hop by helicopter.<\/p>\n

\"JemimaJemima Ottman and Colman Kirby help with painting a statue on the church grounds <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re well used to seeing helicopters around here,\u201d she said. \u201cJames Dyson, who owns Ballynatray [House], nearer to Youghal, comes in by helicopter and we have a sheikh here as well with a stud farm who comes in by helicopter, so another helicopter won\u2019t make much difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cApparently Mark, we\u2019ll call him Mark,\u201d said Kirby with a smile, \u201ceither of his jets can make it here from San Francisco in one fill of fuel, so I presume he will apply for planning for a helicopter pad below at Strancally, and once he gets that he\u2019ll be over here in no time from the airport.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Tycoon towers: Irish castles and houses owned by the global super richOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Local Glendine man Aidan Sexton was doing some work at the nearby Knockanore National School, and he reckoned Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan will probably be very private residents at Strancally, which sits on 440 acres of grassland and woodland on the banks of the Blackwater.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny man with money coming in to the area has to be good. They\u2019ll likely keep to themselves, but Dyson, who lives in Ballynatray, gave money for the local AstroTurf, so maybe the Shamrocks might ask Zuckerberg for a few bob. He can hardly say \u2018no\u2019, can he?\u201d he said with a wink and a smile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cApparently he\u2019s worth $200 billion \u2013 you\u2019d be doing the Shamrocks Lotto for a long time before you\u2019d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,877,19,17,10054,1721,1722,5049],"class_list":["post-650996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-eire","tag-facebook","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-james-dyson","tag-mark-zuckerberg","tag-meta","tag-waterford"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117140242207580899","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}