A fella came here in a helicopter. He took one look and then we heard he was after buying it and then we heard he was after throwing it,” says Peadar O’Callaghan, chairman of the local community development association. SCATTERED AROUND IRELAND are the ruins of former big houses, lying in overgrown fields and out of the sight of locals, slowly crumbling as the years progress.

It was always going to be the case that the ones closest to employment were going to be the ones that were going to be developed first after the music stopped in 2009,” says Lyons.More resources are required to promote vocational trades and apprenticeships if we are to create a sufficiently large pool of skilled people capable of turning around voids in a sympathetic way.

The author is interested above all, one senses, in the grain of day-to-day life: in the stories and power retained by detritus and everyday objects – the crucifix on the wall, the dusty piano, assorted books, the bottle of cod liver oil – even amid the desolation of abandonment. And more than anything, Brownlie’s tremendously evocative photographs tell and amplify such stories of materiality, and of buildings poised trembling between life and death.’– Neil Hegarty, The Irish Times Whether you're a believer in the paranormal or just a fan of a good scare, Ireland is riddled with abandoned places that will creep out even the bravest of souls. It was once described in the Journal of the Bannow Historical Society as “a place that has much more history than it has present.”

Highfield, Lough Hyne, Skibbereen, Co. Cork

This wasn’t Rebecca’s only encounter with the paranormal, as in her recently published book, she recounts how she was taking photos in an old convent. As she left the canteen, she stopped to take one last photo of the impressive staircase. Later, when she looked at the image, she could see the ghostly silhouette of a woman through the glass door, For the first time, employees now have an opportunity to relocate to smaller provincial locations, possibly where they are from or where family members live. Two exorcisms were performed (the first ever recorded in Ireland) by Fr Peter Smyth and Fr Eugene Coyle from Maguiresbridge. These proved to be unsuccessful.

After a few days and tireless research, I found the owner. Turns out he was a property developer and had plans to turn the home into luxury apartments. We met and he agreed to let us investigate: not only that, he also gave me a set of keys to come and go as we pleased. I was ecstatic. Local politician, Fianna Fáil councillor Bernard Moynihan, who lives two miles away from the estate, blames “very poor planning” for the estate. Clonmines was a small town that began to expand rapidly following the arrival of the Normans. It soon developed a river port, church, monastery and castles, with its main road leading straight to Wexford town.

Santa Barbara, Norwood Grove, Cobh, Co. Cork

I just want the houses to go away because there are rats and I want the estate to be clean,” says Maryam, standing next to her big sister Fatima. The image — which can be seen below — confirmed her long-held belief in a supernatural world. However, it wasn’t the Co Down mum-of-two’s first brush with the paranormal. All houses have an energy, good and bad. I’ve gone into houses in the snow and they’ve been as warm as if the fire was on, and you can feel the warmth and the welcome of the people who lived there. Then there are other houses where you know you’re not welcome, and I would always listen to that, respect it, and leave.”

A reminder of Ireland’s colonial past, many of these houses lie in ruins, the story of their former owners gone untold for decades.And yet, even in the ruins, Brownlie believes there is often something worth preserving. “No matter what state a house is in, you can find beauty in the decay. Even in asylums, the architecture was unbelievable and something that couldn’t be replicated now.” Her passion for documenting old buildings, from once grand castles to abandoned hospitals, aslyums, convents, schools, hotels, pubs, farmhouses and humble cottages, has grown over the years. She is driven to find out the stories behind the buildings and to discover why they had been abandoned and allowed to become derelict.