Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins to make Dáil statement this week over Limerick property deal

Mr Collins will make a Dáil statement on issues around his wife's purchase of a site in Limerick in 2008. He has maintained that he and his wife had no financial interest in the sale of the site

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said that 'in hindsight' the Limerick TD should have recused himself from a local area committee meeting, but he said Mr Collins had not broken any laws and the land was sold at a time when he was no longer a member of the council. Picture: Leah Farrell/Rollingnews.ie

Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins will make a Dáil statement this week on issues around his wife's purchase of a site in Limerick in 2008.

Mr Collins has maintained that he and his wife had no financial interest in the sale of the site in Patrickswell. He had been a member of the council's Bruff local area committee in January 2007 when councillors agreed to put the site on the open market, one month after a solicitor who acted for Mr Collins' wife had written expressing an interest in purchasing the site for use as a medical facility.

The sale of the site to Mr Collins' wife Eimear O'Connor for €148,000 was voted through by the full council in September 2008, some 16 months after Mr Collins was elected to the Dáil. Documents released by Limerick City and County Council and show that an earlier bid of €110,000 had been made in March 2007.

The sale was contingent on planning permission being granted for the construction of a medical centre and offices which was given in June 2008. However, in 2020 an application was made to build five turnkey homes on the site, which the documents suggest would be sold to the council.

The issue was raised by a number of TDs in the Dáil on Tuesday, with People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy saying that it was "quite likely a criminal offence" under the Local Government Act 2001. Mr Murphy said:

He did not dispute that his wife contacted Limerick County Council when he was a councillor seeking to buy a parcel of land. He did not dispute that he then participated in the decision to put that land up for sale. He did not dispute that he did not recuse himself. He did not declare his conflict of interest. On the face of it, it is a very clear breach of the code of conduct for councillors.

He was echoed by TDs from Labour, Sinn Féin, and the Social Democrats.

The Taoiseach, Tánaiste, and Green Party leader, however, said that Mr Collins has not breached any laws or rules.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said that "in hindsight" the Limerick TD should have recused himself from a local area committee meeting, but he said Mr Collins had not broken any laws and the land was sold at a time when he was no longer a member of the council.

Leo Varadkar said the sale of land by a local authority can only be signed off on at a full council meeting, adding that Mr Collins "wasn't even a member of the council at the time when the property was disposed of".

I think it would have been better practice for him not to participate in the local area committee... The suggestion that some sort of law was broken... just isn't correct.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan agreed that Mr Collins should have recused himself, but also stated that a local area committee does not have authority when it comes to selling properties.