The former Fianna Fáil minister, Robert Troy, is set to face an investigation by Standards in Public Office (Sipo), launching next month, regarding transgressions pertaining to ethical legislation. The focus centres on accusations of Mr Troy failing to completely disclose his property assets in his yearly declarations of interests documentation.
This inquiry by Sipo, under the guidelines of the Ethics in Public Office Act, is planned for the 10th of June. Mr Troy stepped down from his role as a State minister in the Department of Enterprise in August 2022 after a string of media revelations exposed his omission to fully register his property holdings.
Following these revelations, Sipo appointed a probe officer to delve into the situation. Subsequent to the officer’s report, the commission agreed last year to initiate an investigation under section 23 of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 pertaining to the discrepancies.
Nevertheless, a secondary aspect of the probe related to allegations of a conflict of interest between Mr Troy’s public remarks with respect to the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) and receipt of RAS payments from certain tenants is not approved to proceed to a comprehensive investigation.
Mr Troy’s resignation was announced on the 25th of August, 2022, which followed a week of intense examination of his property assets when The Ditch, an online media channel uncovered his failure to report all his owned properties. Under significant pressure, Mr Troy acknowledged he made errors in his filings over several years and revealed owning interests in a total of 11 properties. His failure to disclose all properties, Mr. Troy said, was due to misunderstanding the requirements.
In a statement issued last year, Mr Troy expressed his pleasure in the Sipo probe officer’s conclusion that there was no convincing evidence pointing to any conflict of interest in connection with his RAS scheme public statements during his tenure as a minister. He also mentioned being aware of the commission’s decision to proceed with the investigation tying in his omission in the declarations.