Minister of State Robert Troy has said he is embarrassed to have inaccurately filed his Oireachtas register of members’ interests documents. “I didn’t give the process the due diligence that it deserved,” he told RTÉ Radio’s News at One on Tuesday. “I hold my hand up, I admit that. I thought I had got it right, but I didn’t.”
Mr Troy apologised to his constituents, the Dáil, and said he “made a very serious mistake”.
The Fianna Fáil TD for Longford-Westmeath said he currently had six properties, three in his own name and three in a partnership agreement. One of the properties was sublet into three units and another into four.
“So in total I have 11 properties at the moment, nine of which are rented out,” Mr Troy said.
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Mr Troy has been at the centre of controversy for failing to declare details of his property interests. He last week made wide-ranging amendments to declarations he made to the Oireachtas register of members’ interests covering various years.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin defended Mr Troy on Monday, but Opposition parties have said more information and a full statement in the Dáil were needed.
[ Taoiseach defends Robert Troy over property dealingsOpens in new window ]
[ Robert Troy property controversy: How it unfoldedOpens in new window ]
Speaking on radio on Tuesday, Mr Troy said the root of the issue was that he misinterpreted the requirements for the return when he failed to disclose all his property holdings. He said he thought he had to include only the holdings in place on the last day of the year of the return.
Mr Troy rejected an allegation that he had tried to conceal his property interests. “I did not try to conceal anything. There was an error in my interpretation.”
As soon as the error was identified, he provided an amended statement to the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo), he added.
Mr Troy said he takes “full responsibility for my errors” and has “absolutely nothing to hide”.
“I never tried to use my public position for private gain,” he said.
Mr Troy also rejected reports that he had insisted on cash payment from one of his tenants. He said he had a signed affidavit from the tenant involved which would contradict that allegation. The tenant had wanted to pay cash because he had a previous bad experience with a landlord and thought that paying cash would help the connection, he said.
When the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) was debated in the Dáil eight years ago Mr Troy had not declared his personal interest in the scheme under which he was, and continues to be, paid €780 per month from Westmeath County Council for a two-bed townhouse in Mullingar.
The maximum number of properties for which he was paid under RAS at any time was two, while he received HAP for five properties which are not required to be declared to Sipo. He had discussed a wide range of subjects during that Dáil debate in 2014, he said.
“If I had felt there was a conflict of interest I would have declared it,” he said.
Mr Troy was asked about a property he had bought for €82,500 in 2019, refurbished over three months and then sold on to Longford County Council for €163,000. He said the property was bought on the open market and it had been in an “uninhabitable state” with a “substantial amount of work to be done”.
He said he sold it on the open market through a local auctioneer and that €163,000 was “the going rate for that property at the time”. Mr Troy said he incurred refurbishment costs as well as professional fees, and made €36,000 before tax on the sale.
Meanwhile, it was confirmed on Tuesday that Dublin City Council (DCC) previously opened a planning enforcement investigation into a property owned by Mr Troy following a complaint in 2015.
Mr Troy owned the property on Rathdown Road, Phibsboro, Dublin, with a business partner John Noel McGivney. The local authority said it had previously investigated a complaint over renovations of the property, where seven bedsits were converted into four apartments.
Land registry records list Mr Troy and Mr McGivney as joint owners of the property from February 2016, with the property having been bought by the pair some time before that date.
In early 2016 Mr McGivney sought permission from the council to retain a fire escape stairs at the side of the property. In a planner’s report examining the application, DCC noted that there was “no planning history” linked to the subdivision of the property into four apartments.
The report said a “recent enforcement file has been opened on this property relating to the subdivision of the property”. The council’s report added it was “unclear” if the subdivision of the property had been authorised.
In a statement a spokesman for DCC said “planning permission would be required to go from 7 bedsits to 4 self-contained flats”.
The council confirmed it had received a complaint in 2015 about the subdivision of the property and the installation of external fire escape stairs.
“As the property concerned was not a protected structure the Planning Enforcement Section deemed that the reduction in the number of residential units and renovation of the property did not warrant enforcement action,” the spokesman said.
The council spokesman said permission for the retention of the fire escape stairs was granted in September 2016. “As such permission has been granted the external fire escape/staircase is now authorised. As such the file on the matter was closed and no further action taken,” he said.
The local authority did not propose taking any further action on the matter as the issue was investigated and closed in 2015 and 2016, the spokesman added.
Speaking on RTÉ News at One on Tuesday, Mr Troy said all his properties were compliant with fire safety regulations.
The Fianna Fáil TD did not respond to specific queries from The Irish Times on the previous planning enforcement investigation.
A spokeswoman for Mr Troy said he had “provided a full statement on the matter and answered questions comprehensively”. She said “should further questions arise he is happy to address them when the Dáil returns”.
Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien defended his colleague on Tuesday following the radio interview, saying Mr Troy has “held his hands up” and “very openly and honestly” accepted he had made a “genuine mistake”.
“I think every citizen has a right to own property... whatever people are involved in I think the important thing is that the declarations that were made have been amended,” the Minister said.
