The Fianna Fail TD, Mr John Ellis, has given up a yearly allowance of u £10,000 in resigning as chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and the Marine. However, he is still in receipt of his annual salary as a TD for Sligo-Leitrim.
Earlier this year Mr Ellis opted out of local politics and received u £17,500 under the so-called scrappage scheme for retiring councillors. Along with his income from politics, he also receives income from farming and the rent of land in Co Leitrim.
In the most recent register of interests of Oireachtas members, he lists ownership of 152 acres of land in several locations in Co Leitrim. A property that is owned by Mr Ellis in Fenagh, Co Leitrim, is leased to the Defence Forces at an annual rent of u £16,000.
It was also revealed in the last month that ail TD he acquired a property in Clontarf in 1996 which was valued at approximately £70,000. Mr Ellis does not list this in his register of interests. He is understood to have a "substantial mortgage" on his family home in Co Leitrim.
He is also a non-executive director of Indus Bank Ltd, based in Karachi. According to Mr Ellis, the bank has no interests in Ireland and he receives no remuneration.
The source of Mr Ellis's recent political difficulties, Stanlow Trading, was dissolved in August 1993 after being struck off the register of companies for failing to file its annual returns. The Co Donegal meat business got into financial trouble in 1986.
More than 80 farmers in the north-west are still owed £300,000. However, Mr Ellis has accepted that he has a "moral responsibility" to clear these debts. Just over 30 of these farmers are in Co Donegal, more than 20 are from Co Roscommon, with the remainder located in Co Mayo and Co Cavan.
A spokesman for a group owed money by Stanlow Trading, Mr Sean Clarke, said last night there were "no creditors in Leitrim that we know of".