For sale: a piece of France in the heart of Dublin, which, at €60 million (£45 million), is Ireland's most expensive house yet put on the market.

The 11-bedroom mansion is Dublin's largest and grandest detached house and has been the French Ambassador's home since 1930. With more than 11,000sq ft of living space, including a 40ft drawing room, three imposing fireplaces, a grand staircase rising through three floors and a garden big enough to accommodate a marquee for a thousand guests, No 53 Ailesbury Road, in the exclusive Ballsbridge area, is ten times bigger than the average three-bedroom semi.

But such grandeur is no longer in vogue for French diplomats. Ambassador Yvon Roe d'Albert, recently arrived from Phnom Penh, is not unhappy to be downsizing. “It is so big that sometimes I have to call my wife on her mobile phone if I want to talk to her,” he told The Irish Times.

The residence is being sold as part of a policy to economise shared by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other missions. It remains to be seen, however, if the French can avoid the hapless foray into Ireland's spiralling real estate market that befell our own Ambassador's residence in Dublin.

The FCO is trying to dispose of Marlay Grange, the house it bought in 2000 — and which has never been inhabited since — for £6.25 million. Another £1.2 million was spent on asbestos removal, refurbishment and security before a decision was taken last year to sell it. The Ambassador continues to live at Glencairn, the residence that the FCO sold in 1999.

In an unusual arrangement the new owners allow the Ambassador to live rent-free at Glencairn in return for withholding part of the £24 million cost of the 14.2-hectare estate until such time as the FCO gives vacant possession. The property deal was criticised by Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, who said that “serious mistakes” had been made. “It takes a special talent to lose money on Irish property in the last decade,” said one estate agent.

France is banking on one of Ireland's new super-rich to snap up Dublin's most sought-after address. “It's very expensive but they are willing to do a deal which includes swapping it along with a cash payment. There are a handful of people who already live in the same area who might be tempted,” said Orna Mulcahy, The Irish Times property editor. “Although the climate isn't particularly healthy when something of this quality comes up it generally doesn't hang around for long.”

Derek Quinlan, a former tax inspector, who last year bought Citigroup's Canary Wharf tower from the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Savoy Group of hotels in 2004, is mentioned as a prospective purchaser. Sean Dunne, another self-made property developer and resident of D4 — the postcode for the Ballsbridge diplomatic and high net-worth district — is another name in the ring. Mr Dunne wants to redevelop a seven-acre site on Lansdowne Road with a 37-storey “cut diamond” tower, prompting an angry debate about Dublin's changing identity.

The French President Charles de Gaulle stayed at the residence during a state visit to Ireland, but if the house returns to Irish ownership the purchaser will be delighted by its history. It was built by George Bustard, who started out in business as a child selling newspapers in the 1840s. The boy restored a lost wallet to its owner and with the reward money booked his passage to Australia, where he made a fortune in construction.

Given its prestigious dimensions, the residence is likely to be resistant to Ireland's property downturn. But beyond the cosseted confines of D4 the latest Central Statistics Office figures report 220,000 houses and apartments lying vacant, representing 15 per cent of Ireland's available housing.

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