{"id":104278,"date":"2025-10-05T18:30:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T18:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/104278\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T18:30:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T18:30:08","slug":"jim-gavin-looking-into-allegation-he-owes-former-tenant-e3300-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/104278\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Gavin \u2018looking into\u2019 allegation he owes former tenant \u20ac3,300 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fianna F\u00e1il presidential<\/a> candidate Jim Gavin<\/a> has said he is \u201clooking into\u201d an allegation that a former tenant of his mistakenly overpaid \u20ac3,300 in rent for an apartment he used to own and was never paid back.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it happened I\u2019m very sorry that it happened, I really am, and I will address it,\u201d he said on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Mr Gavin and his wife Jennifer used to own an apartment in the Smithfield area of Dublin.<\/p>\n

A report in the Irish Independent set out how they got into financial difficulties and the property was handed back to the bank with an additional sum added to the mortgage on their Rathfarnham home.<\/p>\n

It also reported that a tenant who moved out of the Smithfield property in 2009 continued paying rent in error, and claimed a sum of \u20ac3,300 was not refunded to them despite a number of attempts to get it back.<\/p>\n

Mr Gavin was asked about the issue during the latest televised presidential debate between the three candidates on RT\u00c9<\/a>\u2019s The Week in Politics.<\/p>\n

Asked by presenter \u00c1ine Lawlor if he owed the former tenant the money, Mr Gavin said it was \u201cover 16 years ago\u201d and it was a \u201cvery, very stressful time for myself and my family\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, a lot of families and couples we got into financial difficulty at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressed on the claim, he said: \u201cOn that particular issue I don\u2019t have all the information.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said: \u201cI\u2019m looking into it and I will deal with it with urgently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Put to him that 2004 legislation meant the tenancy should have been registered with the Residential Tenancies Board<\/a>, Mr Gavin said: \u201cLike the majority of people we didn\u2019t register the flat at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters after the debate, he said he had \u201cdeclared all my [rental income] for taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still gathering data and information, and when I have that, I will take comprehensive action, and I\u2019ll share that with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PresidentialPresidential candidates (left to right) Heather Humphreys, Catherine Connolly and Jim Gavin with presenter Aine Lawlor during the debate. Photograph: Conor O’Mearain\/PA Wire<\/p>\n

Separately, Independent candidate Catherine Connolly<\/a> was quizzed during the debate on how she employed a woman convicted of firearm offences to work for her at Leinster House for six months in 2019.<\/p>\n

Ms Connolly employed Ursula N\u00ed Shionnain<\/a> shortly after her release from a prison sentence handed down by the Special Criminal Court<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ms N\u00ed Shionnain had been a prominent member of socialist republican organisation \u00c9irig\u00ed<\/a>, which campaigned against the Belfast Agreement.<\/p>\n

Ms Lawlor put it to Ms Connolly that Ms N\u00ed Shionnain was photographed at \u00c9irig\u00ed\u2019s ardfheis in January 2019, at about the time she started working for the Galway West TD. <\/p>\n

Ms Connolly was asked what she knew about the status of Ms N\u00ed Shionnain\u2019s membership of \u00c9irig\u00ed at the time she employed her. <\/p>\n

She said she was \u201cnot misled\u201d and also that \u201c\u00c9irig\u00ed is a registered political party\u201d which she later described as \u201csocialist\u201d and \u201canti-fascist\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said Ms N\u00ed Shionnain \u201cserved her prison sentence, got early release, started her PhD in prison, and came out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Connolly stood over her view that she was the \u201cperfect candidate\u201d for the work she was employed for. <\/p>\n

Both Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys<\/a> and Mr Gavin criticised her in relation to her hiring Ms N\u00ed Shionnain and how she was signed into Leinster House by Ms Connolly while a Garda vetting process was ongoing. <\/p>\n

However, Ms Connolly insisted \u201cno rules were broken here\u201d.<\/p>\n

During a post-debate press conference Ms Connolly was asked repeatedly if she had asked Ms N\u00ed Shionnain if she was still a member of \u00c9irig\u00ed when she employed her. <\/p>\n

She did not answer the question specifically but reiterated that \u201cEirig\u00ed is a registered political party\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked if Ms N\u00ed Shionnain had specifically told her she had renounced the type of activity for which she had been convicted, she replied: \u201cAbsolutely, without a doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the debate Ms Humphreys \u2013 who served as a government minister for 10 years as the housing crisis continued \u2013 was asked about President Michael D Higgins\u2019s 2022 remarks describing the crisis as \u201cour great, great, great failure\u201d and \u201ca disaster\u201d.<\/p>\n

She disputed a suggestion that anyone who agreed with Mr Higgins should not vote for her, saying she has \u201chuge sympathy for people that can\u2019t get a house\u201d and who are \u201cputting off life decisions\u201d as a result.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to do more in terms of housing,\u201d, she said, adding that \u201cbillions\u201d are being spent on it and \u201cit\u2019s important that we see results. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs president, I will highlight those issues. I have no problem doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fianna F\u00e1il presidential candidate Jim Gavin has said he is \u201clooking into\u201d an allegation that a former tenant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,1921,18,63601,13,14,6,555,8752,19,17,19487,11,12,15,16,5,59,1181,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-104278","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-catherine-connolly","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-eirigi","13":"tag-featured-news","14":"tag-featurednews","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-heather-humphreys","17":"tag-housing-crisis","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-ireland","20":"tag-jim-gavin","21":"tag-latest-news","22":"tag-latestnews","23":"tag-main-news","24":"tag-mainnews","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-presidential-election","27":"tag-rte","28":"tag-top-stories","29":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}