Sipo investigation into Robert Troy to go ahead next month

The Standards in Public Office (Sipo) commission will next month commence an investigation into former Fianna Fáil minister Robert Troy under ethics legislation.

The investigation will look into the alleged failure by Mr Troy to declare all his property ownership in annual declarations setting out his interests.

[ Sipo more a ‘lapdog’ than watchdog due to lack of powers given by Government, Dáil told ]

An investigation hearing by Sipo under the Ethics in Public Office Act will take place on June 10th.

Mr Troy resigned as a minister of State in the Department of Enterprise in August 2022 following a series of media disclosures that he had failed to register all his property interests.

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Sipo subsequently appointed an inquiry officer to examine the matter and, on the basis of that report, the commission decided last year to proceed with an investigation under section 23 of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 into the omissions.

[ Robert Troy confirms Sipo has opened formal investigation into property declarations ]

However, a second line of inquiry into a suggested conflict of interest between Mr Troy’s public statements on the rental accommodation scheme (RAS) and the fact he was receiving RAS payments from some tenants will not proceed into a full investigation.

Mr Troy’s resignation on August 25th, 2022, came in the wake of week of intense scrutiny of his property interests after the online media outlet The Ditch reported he had failed to declare all his properties.

Under mounting pressure, Mr Troy admitted to making errors in his returns over a number of years and also disclosed that he had ownership interests in a total of 11 properties. He claimed at the time that his failure to declare properties was as a result of a misinterpretation of the requirements.

[ Ex-minister Robert Troy declares six properties owned in latest Dáil register of interests ]

Mr Troy made wide-ranging amendments to the Oireachtas register of members’ interests going back to 2013 and apologised for his omissions.

In a statement last year, Mr Troy said he welcomed the finding by the Sipo inquiry officer that there was no prima facie evidence to support any conflict of interest arising from his public statements on the RAS scheme during his time as a minister. He also said had noted the decision by the commission to proceed with the investigation in relation to omissions in his declarations.