Junior Minister Robert Troy has said he is “an open book” and has “nothing to hide” before revealing details about his interests in 11 properties.
In the latest extraordinary developments in the ongoing controversy surrounding his property interests, he revealed he has 11 properties on his books with rent coming in from nine of these.
And seven of these tenancies are registered with landlord subsidy schemes that see local councils pay Mr Troy money on behalf of local authority tenants.
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Mr Troy did not tell the Dáil he was receiving money from the Rental Assistance Scheme (RAS) when he called for more funding for RAS during a debate in the Dáil in 2014.
He denied this represented a conflict of interest.
The Fianna Fail TD from Longford had declared all but one of these properties on the official Members’ Interests register of the Dáil at different times.
Mr Troy said it was also a mistake he made when he didn’t register a tenant with the RTB (Residential Tenancies Board) for nine months, until a journalist highlighted the fact earlier this month.
Mr Troy said he wanted to apologise for “mistakes” he made through his serious omissions and that he was “embarrassed” he had not filled out his registers correctly over the years.
Mr Troy has offered to come before the Dáil to answer questions his fellow politicians may have about his property portfolio.
However, the opposition were not satisfied with his responses last night, saying that questions still remain.
Sinn Féin chief whip Padraig MacLochlann said that Mr Troy still needs to do three things. He must produce evidence he is tax compliant, provide evidence that all his tenants are registered with the RTB and show that all his properties are fire compliant and have proper planning permission.
In a spellbinding interview on RTE’s News at One, Mr Troy for the first time gave comprehensive details on his substantial property portfolio - and how he is getting cash from seven of them through landlord subsidies from the State.
Listeners were stunned to hear that Mr Troy has been busy building his property portfolio for over a decade, since before he became a TD in 2011.
He said he was sorry for all his mistakes. The minister said: “I do hold my hand up. I did make a very serious mistake.
“And, to be frank, I’m embarrassed that I got it so wrong and that I needed such a comprehensive amendment to the statement of members’ interests.
“The root of the issue here is that I misinterpreted the requirements.
“I was wrongly under the impression that I only needed to declare the interests that I held on December 31 of a particular year, not on an annualised basis.”
He added: “Bar one property, I have made reference to every other interest, every other property, at some stage in my members’ interest return.
“I admit not fully, I admit in certain instances not in the right location, but I did not try to conceal any of my property interests in the lifetime of this since I was elected to the Dail.”
Both the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, and the Tánaiste, Leo Varadkar, last night gave the minister their backing by saying they were satisfied with Mr Troy’s answers.
In a joint statement, a spokesman said: “Both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste acknowledge and accept Minister Troy's comprehensive statement, explanation and apology for the errors and welcome the amendments that have been made to the record.”
Sinn Féin’s Mr MacLochlann said: “I think we're at the stage now where we need absolute full disclosure by the Minister.
“We've had this drip feed of revelations, almost daily new revelations. So there's a number of things he needs to do and he needs to do straight away.
“He needs to give evidence of tax compliance. He has confirmed that he received cash payments for rent, so we need evidence of tax compliance there.
“We know that at least one property wasn't registered with the Residential Tenancies Board, as required by law. So he's now confirmed his nine properties that are rented out.
“We need evidence that all of them are registered with RTB and that they've been registered for the entire duration they've been rented out.
“And then finally, there is the issue of planning permission and fire certificates. He needs to publish evidence that all of the properties he owns have got planning permission and have fire certs.
“We need that to restore public confidence in this whole issue.”
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