THE STATE’S ETHICS watchdog has launched an investigation into junior minister Niall Collins.

It comes three years after a complaint to the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) was made by People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy in relation to the sale of land by Limerick County Council to Collins’ wife in 2008.

The complaint was made following extensive reporting on the issue by online publication The Ditch.

In a letter to Murphy on 28 August 2026, Sipo confirmed it had launched an investigation: 

“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.”

The Sipo investigation could not proceed until now as a garda investigation was underway. The Journal understands gardaí decided not to pursue the matter.

Collins declined to comment today when contacted by The Journal, but has previously told the Dáil that he is in “absolutely no doubt” that his action in relation to the sale of the land was “at all times legally correct”. 

Controversy 

The allegations surrounding Collins relate to the sale by Limerick County Council of land located in the town of Patrickswell in 2008, when Collins was a member of the Dáil.

The council’s decision came a year after Collins attended a local committee meeting while still a Limerick County Councillor, during which local representatives agreed to recommend a full council vote to sell the land.

The Bruff committee was one of five local area committees on the old Limerick County Council, and was made up of seven councillors – including Collins – at the time.

It met once a month to coordinate services for communities in the Bruff area, as well as to propose votes on local issues at full council meetings.

In January 2007, the committee recommended that a full council vote should take place on the sale of land in Patrickswell; Collins was present at the meeting, and his wife Eimear O’Connor, a GP, had already written to the council through her solicitor to express an interest in the land a month previously.

Collins became the focus of controversy in April 2023 following reporting by The Ditch for allegedly not recusing himself from the discussion or declaring that his wife had an interest in the land.

O’Connor subsequently purchased the land at Patrickswell from the council for €148,000 following a vote at a full meeting of Limerick County Council in 2008, by which time Collins had become a TD.

Following the Ditch’s reporting, Collins issued a statement in April 2023 to clarify that he was not a member of the council in September 2008 because he was no longer a member of the local authority, having been elected as a TD in May 2007.