Duffy answers questions over sale of properties
AS IT emerged that he and his wife offloaded a tranche of properties to settle loans from a string of investments in the 1990s and the boom years, Gavin Duffy pledged: ‘If I achieve a nomination I will engage in a full disclosure of my property affairs.’
He went on: ‘People need to know I don’t have properties. So, for example, if I make a comment on the rental sector I am not making it as a landlord.’
Mr Duffy stressed that the decision to dispose of the majority of his properties had been voluntary.
‘It was of my own volition,’ he insisted. ‘I was in a position (in 2015) where I could settle and move on. I was never a speculator or developer. I was an investor.’
Mr Duffy and his wife Orlaith Carmody had interests in 15 properties at one stage, including residential and commercial buildings.
This weekend he told a newspaper that the couple’s home at Kilsharvan, Co. Meath, is the only property among them that remains in his ownership.
Mr Duffy claimed his experience meant he could connect with the homeless and with those who were struggling to get on the property ladder.
He said of those in difficulties: ‘Anyone can say they empathise but here is someone who knows how property works’.
He pointed out that in 2013: ‘I said… on RTÉ we would have to start building houses immediately.’