SINN FÉÍN HAS said it is “not acceptable” that one its TDs who owns a rental property had allowed the registration with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) lapse.

Sinn Féin has warned Meath-West TD Johnny Guirke that any further lapses with the registration of his rental properties “will result in disciplinary action from the party”.

The Irish Independent reported today that the Co Galway property was not registered with RTB.

In a statement, Guirke said the house was previously registered with the RTB, but the letting agent handling the rental had not renewed it.

“I own four rental properties, which I have always declared in full with SIPO. I manage three of these properties directly; all of which are registered with the Residential Tenancies Board.

“The other property is managed by a letting agency, who had taken on responsibility for registration with the Residential Tenancies Board. This property was initially registered, however it has come to my attention that this registration lapsed due to an error on behalf of the letting agent.

“As soon as I became aware of this, I immediately rectified this and the property is registered again with the RTB,” he said. 

He added: “I take my responsibilities very seriously and regret that this error occurred.”

Commenting on the statement from Sinn Féin TD Johnny Guirke, a Sinn Féin spokesperson said:

“All rental properties should be registered with the Residential Tenancies Board – no ifs, buts or maybes. It isn’t acceptable that a rental property was not registered, even for a short period.

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“Johnny has accepted he made an error in relation to a rental property when its RTB registration lapsed which was being managed by a local agent. He rectified the situation when it came to light. The property was properly listed in the members’ interests register.

“The party has formally spoken with Johnny and made it clear to him that the situation with regard to the rental property not being registered properly with the RTB was unacceptable and that any further lapses would result in disciplinary action from the party.”

Earlier this week, Fianna Fáil’s Robert Troy resigned his minister of state post amid controversy over failing to declare all of his property dealings to the Dáil’s register of members’ interests, as first reported by The Ditch earlier this month.

He had to make a total of seven amendments to the Dáil register and revealed that he owns or part-owns 11 properties. It was also revealed that there were issues with his registration with the RTB, resulting in late registration of a property with the body.