The coalition leaders have said that Minister of State Niall Collins should have recused himself from a council meeting discussing the sale of land that was later bought by his wife.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Micheál Martin both denied suggestions that Minister Collins “broke the law”. It follows a story by online outlet The Ditch regarding the sale of a site in Patrickswell, Co Limerick, in 2007 and 2008.
Documents obtained by the Irish Mirror show that Minister Collins attended a Local Area Committee meeting in January 2007 where the idea of selling the land was first discussed. It does not appear that there was a vote on the matter. Councillors were told that there had been several expressions of interest in the land.
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A solicitor for Minister Collins’ wife, Eimear O’Connor, had written to the council in December 2006 expressing interest in the site to build a GP practice.
The Limerick City and County Council agreed to sell the land to Ms O’Connor in September 2008. Mr Collins was elected to the Dáil in May 2007.
Speaking after Cabinet, the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan all stood by Minister Collins but accepted that he should have recused himself from the meeting.
Mr Martin said that Minister Collins had attended a Local Area Committee meeting and that this meeting had “no statutory authority to dispose of the property”.
He said: “In hindsight it would be better if that particular factor was identified, perhaps [if he was] recused.
“But it was 17, 18 months later before that land was disposed of. It was a normal sales process, transparently advertised and disposed of by the council.”
The Taoiseach also stated that it was only a full council meeting that could decide to sell that.
He said: “Minister Collins wasn't even a member of the council at the time when the property was disclosed.
“It would have been better practice for him not to participate in the Local Area Committee [meeting] but the suggestion that some sort of law was broken or he was involved in authorising the sale of this property just isn’t correct.”
Minister Ryan also stated this belief, saying that while he should have recused himself from the meeting, the property was “sold on the open market, anyone could have purchased it”.
The Tánaiste added that Minister Collins will be happy to make a statement to the Dáil on the matter and that the Government Chief Whip was attempting to organise this.
In a statement on Monday night, Mr Collins said that when the matter was initially discussed at the January 2007 meeting, “neither I nor my wife had any pecuniary or beneficial interest in that property. There was no disagreement to the executive’s recommendation”.
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