Niall Collins confirms he knew wife was interested in Limerick site ahead of meeting

Minister of State Niall Collins has confirmed he was aware his wife was interested in acquiring a plot of land in Co Limerick at the time a Council committee discussed its disposal in 2007.

Mr Collins, a TD for Limerick County attended a meeting of a Bruff Local Electoral Area Committee in January 2007 which discussed a plot of land in the village of Patrickswell, which the local authority proposed to sell.

The site was sold in late 2008 to Dr Eimear O’Connor who is Mr Collins’ wife. She had written to the council a month before the Bruff LEA meeting in December 2006 expressing an interest in purchasing the site if it was prepared to dispose of it. She said she wished to develop a medical centre there.

In a personal statement to the Dáil last month, Mr Collins maintained he did nothing wrong when he attended the meeting and had not broken any laws. He was present when the disposal of the site was discussed and – while no vote was taken – he and the other six councillors at the meeting agreed with the recommendation of a senior engineer that the site be sold.

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[ Who is Niall Collins, the Fianna Fáil junior minister who can’t shake off controversies? ]

[ Niall Collins: The events that led to the sale of a site by Limerick County Council to his wife ]

During the course of delivering the Dáil statement, Mr Collins said he accepted in hindsight, given the controversy that had arisen, he should have recused himself from the meeting.

However, no questions were permitted in the Dáil and Mr Collins did not state if he was aware of Dr O’Connor’s wish to purchase the site at the time the meeting took place.

In his first media event since the controversy, Mr Collins was asked if he was aware if his wife had expressed an interest.

“I did, yes. Absolutely,” he said.

Asked if that was the case should he not have decided then to recuse himself, he said: “I made a detailed statement as you know, in relation to it. And I was happy to do that. I laid out all the facts in relation to it. It didn’t break the law. It was my judgment back then. And it’s still my judgment today.”

[ ‘It’s not the talk of the town’: Patrickswell locals bemused by Niall Collins row ]

Mr Collins was speaking outside Government Buildings with Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris, where both were launching the OECD Ireland Skills Strategy Report.

He told reporters that the documents released by Limerick County Council showed there were a number of expressions of interest in the site, in addition to that of Dr O’Connor’s.

Asked if her query was a material interest he replied: “My judgment back then was that I didn’t break the law. It is my judgment now that I didn’t break the law. And I’ve been very clear in relation to that.”

Pressed on this issue he said: “With the benefit of hindsight, and given the perception that has now arisen with some, it would have been better had I recused myself in the meeting.”