Minister Niall Collins says ‘no law was broken’ over sale of land

Minister of State for Skills and Further Education Niall Collins has said he has “no doubt” that his actions in relation to the sale of land in Co Limerick in 2008 were legally correct.

Mr Collins was giving a “personal explanation” in the Dail, after it was revealed his wife purchased land from Limerick County Council in 2008, after he attended a meeting of an area committee where the sale was proposed.

Mr Collins said the process was “all done in full transparency” and the sale occurred when he was no longer a member of the council.

“No law was broken.

“I did not participate in any decision that authorised the sale of this land.

“This can only be done by the full county council in accordance with statutory process.

Mr Collins was a councillor for Limerick in early 2007 and was in attendance when the potential sale of the property in Patrickswell was brought to the Bruff Area Committee by the council executive on January 15 2007.

His wife Dr Eimear O’Connor was one of the people who had expressed an interest in the property.

Mr Collins said the committee, is a subset of the council, agreed the property should be sold on the open market but there was no vote taken.

He said the area committee contained seven councillors and does not have disposal rights in regard to the sale of council property.

Mr Collins said the council’s executive subsequently appointed an independent auctioneer to sell the site and offers were made over a period of six months.

He stopped being a councillor for Limerick in May 2007 when he became a TD.

He said his wife’s offer of 148,000 euro was the highest bid and this was notified to the council on September 14 2007.

The sale was approved by a full county council on 22 September 2008.

“It is clear from the forgoing that the property went on sale on the open market with an independent auctioneer appointed by the council.

“Anyone could have bid on the property and indeed a number of offers were received over a period of six months or so.”

He said the sale occurred 18 months later when he was no longer a member of the council.

“When the council executive recommended to the Bruff Area Committee that the property should be put up for sale in January 2007, neither I or my wife had any pecuniary or beneficial interest in that property.”

However, he said “in hindsight” it would have been better if he had not participated in the meeting.

“Even though it is absolutely clear that my wife did not benefit in any way from my attendance at the January 2007 meeting.”

He said it was his understanding that he was not participating in a discussion that contravened the 2001 Local Government Act.

Opposition TDs had requested an opportunity to ask Mr Collins questions but this was not permitted under the format of the session.

The report was first published on news platform The Ditch, which Tanaiste Micheal Martin described as a “political organisation attacking Government”.

Speaking in the Dail before Mr Collins’ address, Mr Martin said the reports had “more to do with undermining character and reputation than anything else”.

He also criticised Paddy Cosgrave and Chay Bowes, who he said were partly funding the website and were “political opponents of the Government”.

Mr Martin said: “I think that deserves scrutiny, too, from the house, how these campaigns are developing.

“I don’t think this house should be a slave or facilitating political campaigns organised by a platform.

“I don’t see The Ditch as an independent media organisation at all.

“Paddy Cosgrave does, Paddy Cosgrave is a backer.

“Chay Bowes is a founding member of The Ditch. Chay Bowes is quoted on Russia Today.

“The Russian ambassador is full of praise for Chay Bowes for his characterisation of the Russian war on Ukraine as a Nato-EU organised war and he was a founding member of The Ditch.

“I know what’s going on here in terms to the broader political world, we should not be slaves to it.

“It deserves analysis; the trending, the hashtags, the algorithms, the paid ads, the berating of media for daring not to discuss or cover it.”

In response, Mr Bowes was critical of the remarks and said he had exposed “ineptitude” of Mr Martin’s Fianna Fail party.

Mr Cosgrave said: “When any government is reduced to attacking journalists by abusing Dail privilege, you know that that government has been caught red handed and has nowhere to hide.”

A spokesman for The Ditch said Mr Martin had launched a “hysterical, paranoid attack” on the website rather than addressing the reporting on Mr Collins.

“The Ditch has never paid for advertising or attacked any Irish media for not covering our stories. Many do.

“Martin questioned both these outlets’ judgment, as well as all the readers who consider our stories to be in the public interest.

“The Ditch has two directors, Eoghan McNeill and Roman Shortall, who are two of the company’s three shareholders, the third being a holding company for lawyer Adam Connon.

“We are funded by our subscribers, who donate through a link on our website, as well as Web Summit as part of the company’s support for Irish media.

The spokesman said its reporting had led to resignations of senior public figures.

“These consequences explain Martin’s conspiracism in the Dail today.”

Mr Martin’s comments were made under Dail privilege during Leaders’ Questions.

He was responding to a question from Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns, who said Mr Collins should answer questions relating to the sale of the land.

Ms Cairns maintained she was not asking the Tanaiste about his opinion on The Ditch and her call for Mr Collins to answer questions was a matter of political accountability.

However, Mr Martin said the political context had changed and there had been an “orchestrated and organised” campaign to undermine confidence in Government.

“This is a political organisation attacking Government and wanting to undermine confidence in Government,” he said.

“I see this now through a totally different prism how all of this has been organised, set up by people who are very clear in their campaign against me and my party.

“You can see it.”

He said Mr Cosgrave had deep connections with the organisation.

“And what did he say? ‘Maybe it’s time to body bag,’ that’s a tweet, ‘a few minions and media, civil service, charities, judiciary, private sector’.

“We’re not facilitating this.

“You’re slavishly following this agenda.”

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said The Ditch has been quite successful in exposing “corrupt, unethical practices” by ministers in government.

He said there was an attempt to “cover it up”.

However, Mr Martin said there was nothing to cover up.

He said the Bruff Area Committee had no statutory authority in terms of disposing of the property at the time so there was no pecuniary or beneficial interest in the land on behalf of Mr Collins.

However, he said it would have been better if Mr Collins had not participated in the meeting.

Mr Martin said there have been “attempted character assassinations” of members of the Dail.

He said: “This has been going on for quite some time.

“There’s been attempted character assassinations of many politicians of this house of mainly political parties, if they’re not the same political orientation with those who back The Ditch – good friends of yours in terms of political philosophy, political ideology, no question about that.

“The selected and distorted way that stories are originated and presented leaves an awful lot to be desired.

“This is a political organisation. That’s my point.

“It is not an independent media platform by any stretch of the imagination.”