State's ethics watchdog launches probe into Limerick TD
Niall Collins facing investigation from Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo)
A PRELIMINARY inquiry has been launched by the State’s ethics watchdog into Limerick TD Niall Collins over a property vote dating back to his time as a councillor.
Mr Collins, now a Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, is facing an inquiry by the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo).
It relates to complaints that Mr Collins, while a member of the former Limerick County Council took part in a January 2007 meeting at which it was agreed to begin the process of selling a council-owned site which was later purchased by his wife, Dr Éimear O’Connor.
The sale was completed in 2008, a year after Mr Collins gave up his council seat upon his election to Dáil Éireann.
Complaints were made to Sipo in 2023 about Mr Collins’s involvement in the matter.
The allegations were also examined by An Garda Síochána. Gardaí subsequently decided not to pursue the matter.
Sipo had previously said it could not progress its consideration of the complaint while the Garda matter was ongoing.
The commission has now decided to proceed to the next stage of its preliminary inquiry.
An investigation officer will gather further information and establish the facts of the complaint, before determining whether there is a case to answer under the relevant legislation.
The move was confirmed by Sipo in correspondence to those who initially made complaints to the watchdog, including People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy and former Fianna Fáil activist and Independent Ireland election candidate Kristofer Shekleton, who is based in Cavan.
Mr Collins declined to comment when contacted by Limerick Live on Monday.
However, he has previously told the Dáil that he was in no doubt that his actions around the sale of the site were legally correct at all times.
He has said the site received a number of expressions of interest and was ultimately sold several months after he was elected to the Dáil in 2007.
In hindsight, he said it would have been better had he not participated in a Bruff local area committee meeting in January 2007 which discussed the potential sale of the site.
There is no timeframe for the completion of Sipo’s preliminary inquiry.
Mr Collins was elected to Limerick County Council in 2004, and won a seat in the Dáil for the Limerick West constituency at the General Election three years later. He has held his parliamentary seat since.