Fianna Fáil Minister of State Robert Troy is coming under increasing political pressure after he revealed fresh information about his property interests following weeks of controversy.
There is growing unease within Government, and Fianna Fáil in particular, as a number of Mr Troy’s colleagues have privately cast doubt on his plans to wait until the Dáil returns before answering further questions.
Mr Troy has said he would be happy to address the Dáil when it returns later in September but Opposition politicians remain unhappy with explanations to date.
Mr Troy revealed on Tuesday that he owns or part-owns 11 properties, nine of which are rented out including one property sub-let into three units and another into four units.
He declined to provide addresses for all 11 properties and did not confirm they were all at locations listed in his Dáil Register of Members’ Interests declaration for 2021.
[ Robert Troy property controversy: How it unfoldedOpens in new window ]
A spokeswoman said: “The Minister has provided a full statement on the matter and answered questions comprehensively today again. Should further questions arise, he is happy to address them when the Dáil returns.”
A number of Fianna Fáil sources voiced concern about the controversy dragging on, with one party figure citing potential damage from a drip-feed of information.
Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan said Mr Troy’s position was “becoming increasingly untenable” while People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy has called for Mr Troy’s resignation.
Both Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar stood by the embattled Minister on Tuesday night.
Mr Troy, who is the Minister of State for Company Regulation, said on Tuesday he had two rental assistance payment contracts with Westmeath County Council and also revealed for the first time that he had five contracts for the housing assistance payment (HAP).
He revealed that he receives €780 per month for a two-bed townhouse in Mullingar.
He jointly owns the property and so receives half of this sum. Another Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) agreement was in place from 2011 until 2018 when the local authority bought the property from him.
Mr Troy has come under pressure for raising the issue of State funding to the rental assistance payment scheme in the Dáil in 2014 when he was in receipt of the support.
It has now also emerged that Mr Troy raised issues with the length of time to approve HAP applications a number of times in the Dáil, and asked the Minister for Housing to look into speeding up the application processes for applicants.
In a written question in 2019, he asked the Minister for “his views on the fact that housing assistance payment applications are taking up to eight weeks to process” and he asked if the Minister would investigate the possibility of reducing this timeline for applicants.
Mr Troy told RTÉ on Tuesday that he was not obliged to disclose the HAP contracts on the Dáil Register of Members’ Interests as part of ethics rules. The HAP scheme is administered by the local authorities, which pay landlords directly.
