IT’S A SIGN of the times when you need 18 celebrities to launch a property development. The K Club in Straffan, Co Kildare, enlisted a raft of big names, including Ant and Dec, Alan Shearer and Dougray Scott for the launch of 33 shared ownership properties last week.

The celebrities enjoyed an all expenses paid break with their families at the five-star K Club resort where property sales have been sluggish since the Ryder Cup took place there in 2006.

The duplexes and houses, starting at €150,000 for a one-eighth share, were quietly put on the market last September. A spokesperson for developer Firstlight, in partnership with the K Club on this venture, says none have sold to date but they are “in negotiation” with eight potential purchasers. The celebrities battled it out on the golf course and stayed for two to three nights in the properties at the Ladycastle area. Among them were footballers David Platt, Kevin Keegan, David Seaman, Les Ferdinand and Dwight Yorke. Singer Ronan Keating, actor James Nesbitt, cricketer Ian Botham, and snooker legend Denis Taylor were other big names.

Firstlight has holiday properties in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Central America and Europe. A one-eighth share of a two-bed duplex at the K Club costs €150,000 and €225,000 in a larger three-bed. Fractional ownership of a large four-bed house costs €290,000.

Owners get family membership to the two championship golf courses. They can also avail of a concierge and housekeeping service, property maintenance and airport transfers.

Owners are entitled to six weeks use a year. Alternatively, they can be offered for international exchange, with the weeks being valued and the value in points used by the owner to reserve a week in one of 40 international destinations. The title deed to the property is undivided.

Firstlight is tight-lipped over whether any of the celebrities snapped up a share in a property during their stay, only saying that some showed “serious interest”.