Robert Troy resigns as junior minister after 10 'extremely difficult' days

Robert Troy has resigned from his ministerial post.

Robert Troy has resigned as Minister of State for Trade Regulation.

Mr Troy confirmed his resignation in a statement stating that the past ten days have been “extremely difficult”.

He said the decision had been taken via his “own counsel”.

He said he wished to “sincerely thank” the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and his colleagues “who have shown their support and who continue to have trust in me”.

The Taoiseach said that it is "with regret" that he has accepted Mr Troy's resignation. 

"Robert has been a very committed, hardworking and efficient Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment, in particular working with SMEs and preparing legislative reforms for the PIAB.

"The Minister clearly acknowledged that he made serious errors in relation to his declarations to the Register of Member’ Interests, and he sincerely apologised for this," Mr Martin said. 

"Since his election to Dáil Éireann, his commitment to his constituents and dedication to his work has been beyond question," he added. 

Mr Troy has been under intense pressure in the past two weeks over issues surrounding his declaration of property assets, amongst other things.

Backbench TDs said that they believe that Green Party leader Eamon Ryan's comments at lunchtime that Mr Troy should face a SIPO investigation or Oireachtas Committee were the "final straw" for the embattled Longford-Westmeath TD.

Mr Troy said he wanted to assure the public “that I have not tried to conceal anything”.

“My biggest offence is my lack of due diligence. However, one issue in isolation is excusable but the number of errors now that are of my making directly or indirectly has led me to this decision,” he said.

While he apologised for the “upheaval” the controversy has caused, he said he wishes to stress that “they were genuine errors and human errors and were not intentional”.

“I hold myself to a high standard and that is the reason I have taken this decision of my own counsel,” he said.

He added that the narrative “being put forward by some media and some in the opposition” that landlords are “villains” is “simply wrong”.

“I am acutely aware of the sensitives of the housing situation in Ireland, and on a continuous basis work to assist constituents address their housing needs,” he said, adding however that "vilifying landlords is not the answer, and it will not help the problem”.

“I personally will not apologise for being a landlord,” he said, adding that he bought his first house at age 20, and has “worked for all I have”.

He added that while he appreciates that elected officials have to be “held to high standards”, he asked the media which has followed the story to “consider how ethical their work has been”.

“Some media has taken stories verbatim without verification that have been factually incorrect, they have printed inaccurate headlines and misleading articles and failed to make corrections when asked,” he said.

Mr Troy said he wished to assure his constituents that he will “continue to work as diligently as I always have”.

He asked for “some time, space, and privacy at this time from all media”.

Responding to the resignation, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said Mr Troy has been one of the hardest working and most dedicated Ministers of State with whom he has shared a Department.

“He did a huge amount of the heavy lifting when it came to implementing the Government's trade and enterprise policies including major reforms to consumer, competition and company law, with a new examinership process to make it easier for SMEs to restructure and survive and the reform of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board.

Welcoming his willingness to co-operate with any SIPO inquiry, Mr Varadkar said the Fianna Fáil TD should now be afforded due process in respect of that.

"He acknowledged, accepted and apologised for the errors and omissions he made in his statutory declaration. I wish him, his family and his supporters the best at this difficult time.” A Green Party government spokesperson thanked Mr Troy for "his diligent work as a minister and his courteous approach to working with our own party in government".

"The circumstances which led to his resignation are regrettable but we think it is appropriate that he has done so. As he has acknowledged himself, it is easy to make an error but when a number of mistakes are made it becomes a much more serious issue.

"We look forward to working with him in the future and believe he has much yet to contribute to public life," the spokesperson said.