Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has admitted he forgot to properly register a rental property with the RTB.
Mr Donnelly had registered the property on two previous occasions but failed to do so again in 2019 “due to an oversight”.
“The Minister has a property with a long-standing tenancy,” a spokesperson said.
“That tenancy was registered and renewed with the RTB on a number of occasions (2011 and 2015) and is currently registered. Due to an oversight, the tenancy registration was not renewed in 2019 when it should have been. The RTB indicated that this should be backdated online, which was done last week.”
“The Minister’s interests have been fully declared every year on the Dáil register of members' interests.”
A general view of construction work on an affordable housing scheme in Dublin. Picture by: PA Images / Alamy Stock PhotoLandlord TDs
The property interests of TDs have come under sustained scrutiny in recent days after it emerged that Fianna Fáil’s Robert Troy failed to register that he owned a number of rental properties.
Mr Troy resigned as a Minister of State and in a statement to the press said:
"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 - but vilifying landlords is not the answer, and it will not help the problem.
"I personally will not apologise for being a landlord.
"I bought my first house at the age of 20 as I went straight into a job after school, so I was in a position to purchase my first property then.
"I am not a person of privilege and I have not been brought up with a silver spoon in my mouth, I have worked for all I have."
Main image: Stephen Donnelly. Picture by: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie
