TÁNAISTE LEO VARADKAR has said that he has “full confidence” in junior Minister Robert Troy, who has come under scrutiny after he did not declare the sale of a property on the Dáil’s list of declared interests.
Varadkar said that Troy is set to amend his Dáil declarations and will be contacting Standards in Public Office (Sipo) over the sale of the property.
The Ditch first reported that Troy, the Minister of State for Trade Promotion, sold a property he owned in Mullingar to Westmeath County Council in 2018 and that he had not included it on the Dáil’s register of declared interests.
Under current Oireachtas ethics guidelines, TDs must declare any contracts that they were a part of, directly or indirectly, if the value of the transaction is higher than €6,500.
The Fianna Fáil TD told RTÉ Radio last week that he would be amending the Dáil register.
“That property was declared on my members’ interests between 2011 and 2017. Due to an error on my behalf, I left it off in 2018 as I sold the property during that year and I am in the process of amending that,” Troy said.
Speaking to reporters earlier today, Varadkar said that Troy had his “full confidence”.
“I’ve seen the work that he’s done as the Minister of State in my department over the past two years, and really has been top class work. So yes, I have total confidence in Minister Troy as a Minister,” Varadkar said.
“He made an error in his declarations. He’s made a full statement explaining that.”
Varadkar said that it will be up to either the clerk of the Dáil or to Sipo as to whether or not they will carry out a further investigation into the issue.
“It’s very important that everyone should be afforded due process when it comes to these matters,” Varadkar added.
When asked whether or not the rules around declarations would be changed, Varadkar said that they are regularly reviewed and that any changes would be a matter for Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath.
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy has also made a complaint to Sipo over Troy not registering some interests, calling on the body to commence an investigation.
Additional reporting by Press Association
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