Fine Gael TD Damien English has resigned as Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. over his failure to declare ownership of a property.
This comes following a story published by online outlet The Ditch earlier this week, which revealed Mr English failed to declare ownership of another property when applying for planning permission for a Meath home.
He informed the Taoiseach of his decision to resign as minister last night. “Yesterday in an online article, questions were raised about my planning application from 14 years ago. I reviewed this application, made in 2008, and it is clear to me that I failed to inform Meath County Council about ownership of my house in Castlemartin. This was wrong, not up to the standard required and I apologise for doing so.”
Read more: High rise apartments could ruin Monkstown's 'Victorian ambience', claims TD
He also thanked the people of Meath West for their “ongoing support as their TD” and vowed to continue to “serve them and work hard on their behalf in the constituency”. Separately, in a video on Twitter, the former Minister said that his failure to declare ownership of the home was “wrong and not acceptable”.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also released a statement confirming Mr English’s resignation. He said: “Last night, Damien English TD offered me his resignation as Minister of State for Employment Affairs, Business and Retail. He informed me that 14 years ago, when applying for planning permission, he made a declaration to Meath County Council that was not correct. It was his view given the circumstances that his position was not tenable. I agreed and accepted his resignation.”
Mr English's resignation comes just five months after Fianna Fail’s Robert Troy also resigned from the Department of Enterprise after it emerged that he failed to declare all of his property interests.
EAD NEXT:
Hero gardai save infant's life by carrying out CPR before ambulance arrives
Dublin Bus routes to be diverted as Red Bull F1 showrun takes over city centre
Tomato ketchup cleaning hack leaves sinks spotless and it involves no scrubbing
Flu vaccine walk-in clinics to open for children aged two to 17
Covid Kraken variant arrives in Ireland - what symptoms to expect
Sign up to the Dublin Live Newsletter to get all the latest Dublin news straight to your inbox.
