Prince of property

Few people are better placed than Mark FitzGerald to comment on the continued rise in Irish property prices. Heading into 2006, FitzGerald, the chief executive of Sherry FitzGerald, is in his fourth decade with the auctioneering firm he joined at the age of 18. It is now Ireland's largest residential property seller, with turnover of €32 million in 2004.

When FitzGerald entered the property world, few aspired to be an estate agent.

“You ...