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purchase a house or apartment in the next 12 mont
hs and 76,300 of them will purchase their first home within this timeframe. Property is big business and a revenue lifeline for national and regional print titles. The arena itself is large and daunting in scale. There are small private rooms on the top floor for stud farms such as Coolmore and Rathbarry where we assume they confer as significant sums of money virtually changes hands. There is a collection of six drawings of horses around the arena. The Castletown Racehorses date from 1768. On a busy auction day, horses would be paraded around the ring and guineas would be the currency of choice. Today, it is reminiscent of a Colosseum on half-term, a space into which these gladiatorial figures will emerge, gavel in hand with nothing but their wit and words to save them from a savaging delivered by ballpoint pens. There are around 60 people in attendance for the afternoon part of proceedings which will whittle the 12 contestants down to three. In turn, the finalists will take part in a live charity auction later that evening from which a winner will be crowned. Prizes for this include rugby tickets and a stable tour of trainer Gordon Elliot. €3000 is raised for Inner City Helping Homeless. Peppered amongst the viewers are those tasked with participation in the fake bidding process, plants with questions set to throw competitors off balance as well as friends, family and three judges. Colm Farrell is the chairman of the panel and has been in the game for over 20 years running his own business out of Gort in Galway. “In the back of my mind, I am looking for five traits,” he explains. “Presentation, clarity, accuracy, speed and rhythm… Training of voice and preparation is very important. Auctioneering is like being an athlete really. You just don’t turn up on the day. A good auctioneer would be training in the shower or when they are driving their car. Accuracy is where you have to know who bid, how much and retain that in your head, your mind has to work fast. An important thing when it comes to speed is to identify what you are selling and have an idea of how much it may sell for. If you are selling something worth €50 and look for an opening bid of €200 you are back-cycling all the way and wasting time. And rhythm is your flow of speech. It’s important that you keep an audience with you. That comes with practice.” Just like a TD, undertaker or solicitor, an auctioneer is perceived as an august profession heavily reliant on the power of connections, especially in a rural setting. Farrell joined the Sherry FitzGerald franchise in 2003 before reverting back to being a sole trader. “I always knew that when you are dealing like I am in the West of Ireland, the business came from home connections. The business comes from being involved in the local community.” The winner today will receive the Ron Duff Memorial Rose Bowl. Ron was a former CEO of IPAV who passed away in 2018. They will also receive a week’s training in America’s Auction Academy in Texas. This is the holy grail of finishing schools for the profession. Colm Farrell attended it with his daughter a few years ago. ABC News turned up and he was on it. This is a jump-off place for big time celebrity auctioneering where you end up on cruise liners or might help Elton John sell some sequins for charity. One of Ireland’s ‘top auctioneers’ Denis Barrett is in this category, competing abroad in places like Qatar. He is expected to turn up later tonight. And so to the competition. There are two lots in the first round which will whittle twelve to six. They have to sell a former church with a guide price of €350,000 and Chalkie, a prize-winning shorthorn bull. The plants want to know is the property BER exAuctioneering is like being an athlete really. You just don’t turn up on the day. 48