Sipo launches probe into Niall Collins over Limerick land deal

Inquiry relates to a report that Mr Collins, then a councillor, voted in favour of the sale of land in 2006 which was purchased by his wife

Junior minister Niall Collins giving a Dáil statement in 2023 about the controversy first reported on 'The Ditch' website. File picture: Oireachtas TV/PA

The ethics watchdog has launched an investigation into junior minister Niall Collins.

The preliminary inquiry relates to a complaint made by People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy after reports by The Ditch website that Mr Collins had, while a councillor, voted in 2006 in favour of the sale of land which was purchased by his wife.

In a letter to Mr Murphy, Sipo — the Standards in Public Office Commission, said: “The Commission has decided to proceed to the next stage of Preliminary Inquiry in relation to your complaint, the purpose of which is to gather more information and to establish the facts of the complaint.”

Mr Murphy made the complaint in 2023 and was told at the time that as a Garda complaint had also been made, it would have to wait until after that investigation.

At the time, Mr Collins said that he is “in absolutely no doubt” that his actions around the sale of the site were “legally correct at all times”.

Mr Collins said there had been “various expressions of interest” in the site.

He said there was no vote taken or disagreement on the disposal of the site. He said the disposal of the site is a reserved legal function of the full council and seven Bruff councillors could not do so themselves.

Mr Collins had been on the Limerick County Council in 2007 when the Bruff local area committee agreed to put the land up for sale.

Mr Collins’ wife Eimear O’Connor had expressed an interest in purchasing the site in December 2006 but the full sale was not voted on until September 2008.

Ms O’Connor paid €148,000 for the site, which had received planning permission for the building of a medical centre, but is currently planned to hold five homes which it is proposed will be sold to the council.

Mr Collins told the Dáil in April 2023 that the site received “a number of offers”.

He said the sale of the site was agreed in September 2007, four months after he was elected to the Dáil.

The now junior minister said “in hindsight” and given the focus on the issue for a number of weeks “it would have been better had I not participated in the local area committee meeting in January of 2007².

“Even though it is absolutely clear that my wife did not benefit in any way for my attendance at the January 2007 meeting,” he said.

“However, when I did attend, it was my full understanding and it remains the same today that I was not participating in a discussion or a decision that in any way contravened the 2001 Local Government Act. No law was broken.”

• Paul Hosford, Deputy Political Editor