Q&A: Why has Damien English resigned as junior minister? 

Damien English. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Just weeks after the Government reshuffle, Damien English has resigned as minister of state with responsibility for employment affairs and retail business.

He offered his resignation to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on Wednesday night, becoming the first Fine Gael minister to step down in this government and the second junior enterprise minister to resign in five months.

The resignation centres around the property affairs of the Meath West TD. 

It was revealed this week that he had not declared a home he has owned in Castlemartin since 2004.

Mr English did not return a phone call from the Irish Examiner on the issue on Monday but later issued a statement saying that he was in compliance with Standard in Public Office rules.

Why has he stepped down?

Mr English stepped down as a junior minister — not as a TD — because of his failure to declare that he owned the home in Castlemartin when applying for planning permission to build a family home in 2008.

Mr English said that The Ditch news website, which revealed the failure, had raised questions about his application.

“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,” he said.

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The Taoiseach said Mr English offered him his resignation as minister of state and he accepted.

"It was his view — given the circumstances — that his position was not tenable. I agreed and accepted his resignation,” Mr Varadkar said.

Why is the omission important?

According to land registry records, Mr English became the full owner of the Castlemartin bungalow in 2004. 

In 2008, he and his wife Laura applied for planning permission to build a home in the rural Cookstown area outside Kells. 

According to the 2007-2013 Meath County Development plan, those looking to build in such areas should be able to show a "local need" and this is limited to those “who do not possess a dwelling or who have not possessed a dwelling in the past, in which they have resided or who possess a dwelling in which they do not currently reside".

What does the actual application say?

The publicly-available Meath County Council planning file for the construction of the home says that “the applicant currently resides in the family home at Castlemartin and has done so for the past 30 years" and that Mr English, who was first elected to the Dáil in 2002 "is employed as a Public Representative by Dáil Éireann in Dublin and also has a constituency office in Navan".

However, the application clearly states that "applicant does not own a dwelling and has not owned a dwelling previously".

It adds that Mr English had provided five years' worth of invoices and bills showing his link to the Castlemartin home.

The planning file concludes: “On the basis of the information submitted the applicant has strong linkages specific to the application site and as such satisfies the Local Housing Need criteria in relation to rural housing as per the Meath County Development Plan.”

The planning application was approved subject to conditions.

Is the planning permission still valid?

The Irish Examiner has asked Meath County Council specifically whether it will investigate the planning application but has not yet received a response. 

Questions have been raised about whether an application for planning which contains inaccurate information is still valid and whether this would necessitate the demolition of the family home.

The Office of the Planning Regulator says that "if you discover that you have undertaken unauthorised development, you may apply for permission to retain it" but that "this approach should not be relied on in order to avoid seeking planning permission before starting work".

Is this the end of the matter?

While Mr English has stepped down as a minister and the swiftness of his departure has been lauded, any further revelations would be extremely damaging to the 20-year Dáil veteran.

Mr English's role in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment will also have to be filled, with Neale Richmond, Joe Carey, and Brendan Griffin among the names in the running.