The Ethics in Public Office Commission is to look into the declaration of interest by the Minister for the Marine, Mr Fahey. This follows a newspaper report stating he was the registered owner of a Florida apartment which he had not disclosed.
A spokesman for the commission said yesterday it had been made "aware of the matter". Mr Fahey's name appears on the title deeds for a £130,000 Daytona Beach property purchased 15 months ago. The apartment was not included in his declaration of financial interests, according to yesterday's Evening Herald.
Mr Fahey was not available for comment yesterday. It is understood he originally intended to go guarantor for a friend on the property but the US bank involved insisted his name go on the deed, although he had no beneficial interest in it.
The Minister apparently felt he was not required to declare this as his property under the Ethics in Public Office Act.
All Government Ministers are required by law to list all properties they own or any other financial interests they have above a certain value. Mr Fahey and his friend Mr John Cahill are the registered owners of the two-bedroom apartment on South Atlantic Avenue, Daytona Beach Shores. It is understood the Irish mailing address given was 4 Carraig Ben, Menlo, Galway, which is Mr Fahey's listed address in Galway. The apartment was bought in August last year.
In his 2000 declaration to the commission, Mr Fahey, who is a teacher on secondment from Gort Community School, has declared a number of properties, including a house he lets in Gort, a house and apartment in Galway, family shareholdings in properties in Athlone and Dublin and a house north of Naples, in Italy.