Niall Collins says he acted correctly in Limerick planning application

Fianna Fáil Minister of State Niall Collins has said he acted correctly in a planning application he made in Limerick 22 years ago.

In a statement on Monday evening, Mr Collins disputed statements by The Ditch website which carried details of the planning application he made in May 2001.

The website claimed that as part of the application, he was required to show that he hadn’t previously owned a home in what Limerick County Council called a “pressure area”. It reported that he owned another property with his wife in Dooradoyle.

Mr Collins confirmed that he applied to Limerick County Council in 2001 for permission to build a home on lands owned by his father in Patrickswell, Co Limerick.

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He said that at the time, he met requirements for planning permission in the area, which was known as a “pressure area”.

He said the property he owned on Fr Russell Road in Dooradoyle “was not in the pressure area”.

“Tomorrow I will request a copy of my planning application of 2001 from the Council but I am satisfied that at all times I have acted correctly in my planning application and in my instruction to a planning agent in relation to the application on my behalf,” he said in a statement issued by the Fianna Fáil press office.

He said in 2004 he was elected as a councillor to Limerick County Council “and thereafter the council introduced a new planning policy in relation to housing need”.

He added that his “legal advisers” were examining the statements made about him by The Ditch website.

Mr Collins was first elected to the Dáil in 2007 for Limerick West, surviving the 2011 General Election which saw Fianna Fáil decimated following the financial crisis and the failure of large parts of the country’s banking system.

He was elected in 2016 for Limerick County, holding the seat in the General Election in 2020. Following the conclusion of negotiations on the programme for government and the formation of the current Coalition, he was appointed as Minister of State for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, retaining this role in the ministerial reshuffle last year.

In opposition, he was spokesman on Justice and Equality, followed by Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, and Foreign Affairs and Trade.

He was first elected to Limerick County Council in the 2004 local elections, representing the Bruff electoral area.