...and 42 landlord TDs and senators can get the €200 electricity credit
FORTY-TWO TDs and Senators who are also landlords are potential multi-beneficiaries of the electricity credit scheme.
Every household will get at least €200 under the Government’s €505m package to combat the soaring cost of living.
However, anyone with second homes or investment properties can get double the energy credit – and this includes Oireachtas members.
According to the most recent Oireachtas Register of Members’ Interests, 26 TDs and 16 senators own properties for rent. Elected representatives are renting out 98 properties, of which 64 are owned by Dáil deputies, including three ministers. Independent Kerry TD Michael HealyRae is the Dáil’s biggest landlord by far, with 16 properties for rent. The second-biggest landlord in the Oireachtas is Cavan-Monaghan senator Robbie Gallagher (FF) with five properties.
Sinn Féin TD for Meath West Johnny Guirke lists four properties for let in the Register. Independent TD Seán Canney also owns four letting properties in his native Galway.
Former Agriculture Minister Michael Creed has three premises listed for letting – a commercial unit with three apartments and two residential properties.
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney is no longer a landlord after he sold his apartment in Cork. But other Fine Gael TDs who list their occupation as landlord include former Defence Minister Paul Kehoe, who owns two apartments in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, and an apartment on Haddington Road in Dublin.
Carlow-Kilkenny TD John Paul Phelan has a 50% share in a rented apartment in Rathmines in Dublin.
Several Fianna Fáil TDs also have properties. Minister of State for European Affairs Thomas Byrne has a rental property in Donegal, while Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue rents an apartment in Ashtown, Co. Dublin. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has two properties for let – an apartment in Dublin’s Sandyford, and a house in Clara, Co. Offaly. And
Education Minister Norma Foley has a 50% stake in an apartment in Rathgar in Dublin.
In response to queries from the MoS, Michael Healy-Rae said he had ‘no comment to make’. Robbie Gallagher, Sean Canney and Paul Kehoe all said their tenants would get the benefit of the credits. Johnny Guirke did not respond.