Five TDs stopped renting out properties last year, according to the latest Dáil Register of Members’ Interests, which has been published this week.
Overall, 58 TDs declared land or properties aside from their homes in their returns to the register for 2025.
Declarations included everything from residential and commercial investment properties to farmland, constituency offices and holiday homes.
About 30 TDs indicated they were landlords of at least one property, with the type varying between residential and commercial properties and farmland.
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However, five TDs indicated that they stopped renting out properties that they had previously declared.
Sinn Féin TD Joanna Byrne declared that she was a landlord of a property in Louth in her 2024 return to the register. Her declaration for last year says the “tenancy ceased in July 2025”.
The Louth TD told The Irish Times that she has since moved in to the property herself and the letting agent she had used to manage the previous tenancy “found alternative accommodation for the tenants” before this.
In 2024 Fianna Fáil Minister of State Thomas Byrne declared “rental income” related to a property in Co Donegal and he listed it in the “Land (including property)” category that year. The property and rental income are not listed in the Meath East TD’s declaration for 2025.
Asked about what kind of property it was, whether he had sold it, and the status of any tenancy there may have been, a statement from Byrne said: “My interests are a matter of public record and the register speaks for itself.”
In her 2024 return to the register Social Democrats TD Sineád Gibney declared a property she owned in south Dublin as being rented out while noting, “I rent my own accommodation”. Her 2025 declaration says she ceased being a landlord on July 31st last year.
[ How many landlords and property owners are in the Dáil?Opens in new window ]
The Dublin Rathdown TD confirmed this week that the property has been sold and said: “This property was the only home I have ever owned. I raised my daughter there as a single mum and moved out after I met my now husband as it did not fit our blended family.” She added: “My tenant was a family member and the tenancy ended amicably.”
Sinn Féin TD Johnny Guirke was renting out two properties in 2024 – one in Co Meath and another in Co Galway. He said the tenants in the house in Galway moved out in February 2024 because they got a local authority house and he later sold the property. His declaration for 2025 lists him as a landlord in relation to the other property in Meath.
Former Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl declared he was renting out a Co Kildare property under the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme in his return to the register for 2024. For 2025 the Kildare South Fianna Fáil TD declared the same property as being occupied by his daughter.
Ó Fearghaíl said he had been an “accidental” landlord after inheriting the property and the last tenancy there had been a “long-running one”. He said the tenant secured local authority accommodation just over a year ago and his daughter later moved in to the bungalow.
Separately, Independent Minister of State for Agriculture Michael Healy-Rae retained his position as the TD with the most extensive property portfolio.
In 2025 he continued to be a landlord of 18 properties, mostly in his home county of Kerry. A guest house in Tralee was added to his property portfolio last year. He declared farm and forestry land and a service station among 28 entries in the land and property category.
Healy-Rae declined to comment other than to say he fulfils his obligations to make a declaration to the Register of Members’ Interests.
