Stephen Donnelly is not considering his position as controversy over his rental properties rolls on.
Speaking at Dublin Castle today he said his failure to register one of his rental properties with the Residential Tenancies Board was an “oversight”.
He said the property, which should have been registered in 2019, was registered this week.
Minister Donnelly said he takes responsibility for failing to register with the RTB – but he won’t be considering his position.
“Can I say first of all, that it shouldn’t have happened,” he said.
“The responsibility is mine. It is a longstanding tenancy. It was registered in 2011, was renewed in 2015, and it should have been renewed in 2019.
“That’s my fault, it was an oversight. I’m not considering my position but as I said, it shouldn’t have happened, it is my responsibility and as soon as I found out about it, I followed the same process that everybody has to.”
The property interests of TDs have come under sustained scrutiny in recent days after it emerged that Fianna Fáil’s Robert Troy failed to register that he owned a number of rental properties.
Mr Troy resigned as a Minister of State and in a statement to the press said:
"I am acutely aware of the sensitives of the housing situation in Ireland, and on a continuous basis work to assist constituents to address their housing needs - but vilifying landlords is not the answer, and it will not help the problem.
"I personally will not apologise for being a landlord.
"I bought my first house at the age of 20 as I went straight into a job after school, so I was in a position to purchase my first property then.
"I am not a person of privilege and I have not been brought up with a silver spoon in my mouth, I have worked for all I have."
