He’s saying he was a td when the sale went through but he still voted on its sale that went to his wife. And it was his wife that reached out to the council to purchase. The fact he didn’t declare his interest then makes him dodgey
>A certain FOI has been distributed to journalists this morning. This is interesting. The property in question went sale agreed in September 2007, a year before it was approved by the council
>Even more interesting – first offer was made by Minister’s wife in March 2007. That’s before the Minister had left the council. So… is it the case that he didn’t know his wife was buying a house? Seems the sort of thing you might talk about
>On 15 January 2007 Niall Collins was one of seven county councillors **who voted** to approve the disposal of the land.
The Ditch’s line of reporting has been, consistently, that Niall Collins voted to sell the land. This is just not the truth. There was no vote when the LEA Committee decided to proceed to sell the land, the method of sale yet to be confirmed but to be on the open market. When the land was ultimately sold, [he was a TD](https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/1650603179967389734).
The question of whether Niall Collins should have recorded the fact that his spouse made an enquiry as to purchasing the land is a different question and is distinct from the allegation that he voted. Whether this failure to recuse himself is a breach of the law is a different question, as pointed out again by [Gavan Reilly](https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/1650621921132785667).
Very interesting development from Cianan Brennan of the Irish Examiner:
The FOI requests circulated to journalists this morning show that the land was sale agreed in September 2007, a year before this was approved by the council. They also show that the first offer was made by the minister’s wife in March 2007.
Her solicitor had previously made the sole expression of interest in this land on her behalf in December 2006, which prompted the council to put it for sale on the open market in January 2007, during a meeting in which Collin’s failed to disclose his material interest or excuse himself from.
There really is a small number of accounts in overdrive on this sub the last few days really desperate to insist nothing wrong has happened
8 comments
He’s saying he was a td when the sale went through but he still voted on its sale that went to his wife. And it was his wife that reached out to the council to purchase. The fact he didn’t declare his interest then makes him dodgey
https://twitter.com/ciananbrennan/status/1650787625144385537
>A certain FOI has been distributed to journalists this morning. This is interesting. The property in question went sale agreed in September 2007, a year before it was approved by the council
>Even more interesting – first offer was made by Minister’s wife in March 2007. That’s before the Minister had left the council. So… is it the case that he didn’t know his wife was buying a house? Seems the sort of thing you might talk about
>On 15 January 2007 Niall Collins was one of seven county councillors **who voted** to approve the disposal of the land.
[The evidence made public by The Ditch last night](https://twitter.com/wereontheditch/status/1650614513220169736?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet) shows there was no vote, so Niall Collins could not have voted in a vote that did not take place. [See Gavan Reilly commenting same](https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/1650629153215979520).
The Ditch’s line of reporting has been, consistently, that Niall Collins voted to sell the land. This is just not the truth. There was no vote when the LEA Committee decided to proceed to sell the land, the method of sale yet to be confirmed but to be on the open market. When the land was ultimately sold, [he was a TD](https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/1650603179967389734).
The question of whether Niall Collins should have recorded the fact that his spouse made an enquiry as to purchasing the land is a different question and is distinct from the allegation that he voted. Whether this failure to recuse himself is a breach of the law is a different question, as pointed out again by [Gavan Reilly](https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/1650621921132785667).
Very interesting development from Cianan Brennan of the Irish Examiner:
https://twitter.com/ciananbrennan/status/1650787625144385537?s=46&t=Vc7czrV1Hz1d8Gf3xEA8DQ
The FOI requests circulated to journalists this morning show that the land was sale agreed in September 2007, a year before this was approved by the council. They also show that the first offer was made by the minister’s wife in March 2007.
Her solicitor had previously made the sole expression of interest in this land on her behalf in December 2006, which prompted the council to put it for sale on the open market in January 2007, during a meeting in which Collin’s failed to disclose his material interest or excuse himself from.
There really is a small number of accounts in overdrive on this sub the last few days really desperate to insist nothing wrong has happened
The most worrying thing about it was the rake of people both online and senators like [Lynn Ruane](https://twitter.com/senlynnruane/status/1649729885982564352?s=46&t=OO1gXO-UtycAHHgdPfojOg) insisting that the “main stream media” were deliberately not reporting it either out of corruption or prioritizing their dislike of The Ditch over “truth”.
When it turns out that the “main stream media” was doing their job and just not reporting lies like the Ditch did.
There was a vote, a vote by consensus is still a vote
Can someone tell me: a) was the land sold at a discount to the wife? Or b) was it sold to the highest bidder, which happened to be his wife?