Fianna Fáil Minister of State Robert Troy ordered to pay €500 in damages after tenant left without working oven

Minister of State Robert Troy has been ordered to pay €500 in damages to a tenant of his after a Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) tribunal heard she was without a functioning oven for at least three months.The Fianna Fáil TD for Longford-Westmeath, who previously resigned as a minister of State in 2022 after he failed to fully declare the extent of his property holdings in the Dáil register of interests, did not attend the tribunal hearing in July.His tenant, Priscilla Ryan, who had been renting an apartment from Troy on Mary Street in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, since 2021, claimed she had been without a functioning oven for two years.She also alleged a range of other issues with the apartment, including that there was no fire extinguisher or fire exit, and that the kitchen floor covering was “stuck down with duct tape”.READ MOREHowever, the tribunal accepted Troy’s agents had not been made aware of some issues and that works were carried out in a “timely manner” on others, with the exception of the oven.Troy lists three “studio apartments” as being rented out at the property at Mary Street in his most recent register of interests, covering last year, published by the Oireachtas.Ryan told the tribunal the oven was ultimately replaced a month before the hearing, according to a tribunal report published on Friday.She claimed she had been told not to use the cooker, which she described as having “melted”, and that she had bought a microwave in its place.Ryan, whose rent was set at €730 per month, also told the tribunal she received a notice of termination in July 2025, which was due to rent arrears, and claimed she was “hospitalised due to stress”.Adam Dunne of Egan Auctioneers, a representative of the Minister, said the rent arrears matter had been resolved.He told the tribunal the apartment had been fully renovated in 2020, and his firm attempted to resolve any issues as they arose, though delays were sometimes caused by difficulty in sourcing parts.Dunne denied Ryan was left without a cooker for two years, but accepted it may have been three or four months at a “maximum”.He said no issues had ever been raised relating to some problems alleged by Ryan, including the kitchen floor covering, which he said was laminate, installed in 2020.Asked by the tribunal whether he was denying there had been a breach of landlord obligations, Dunne said the number of issues raised by Ryan “greatly exceeded” the norm and that “far more” problems were raised by her than tenants in other apartments in the building.He said Egan Auctioneers was a professional company and that the majority of issues had been rectified.Dunne said they were “happy to apologise” if Ryan deemed that appropriate, adding that his firm would do “whatever was needed, within reason, on an ongoing basis”.The tribunal said it was satisfied that Troy – “through his managing agents” – was aware the apartment lacked a functioning oven for at least three months.Noting a “clear breach” of regulations, it ordered him to pay €500 in damages within 28 days.Ryan had also claimed she suffered a stroke and had to quit her job as a result of stress associated with the sale of the apartment building after photos of her family and “personal information” appeared in a sale listing on Daft.ie.She said this was a breach of her privacy and that it caused “tensions”, resulting in her being unable to see her grandchildren and losing contact with her family. The tribunal said these issues related to privacy and data protection, and it had no jurisdiction to make findings on such complaints.In a statement to The Irish Times, Troy said he accepted and respected the RTB’s determination and confirmed he had paid €500 in damages.“I firmly believe that tenants should be able to expect a high standard of service, with any concerns or maintenance issues responded to and dealt with appropriately,” he said.“That is the reason I employed a letting agent to manage the property, to ensure that any issues would be dealt with appropriately. That is the standard I expect to be upheld in the management of a property.”Troy said any maintenance requests were approved and facilitated through Egan Auctioneers, which the Minister said was “responsible for its [the property’s] day-to-day management, maintenance and engagement with the tenant”.He said a repair technician was sent to inspect the cooker within days of the issue being reported, and when repair proved unsuccessful, arrangements were made for a replacement.The replacement oven was installed on June 29th, 2026, before the tribunal hearing.Troy said the RTB plays a “vital role in our housing system” and that its work is “essential to protecting the rights of all parties and maintaining confidence in the rental sector”.Following Troy’s resignation as minister for state in 2022, an investigation by the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) found the Longford-Westmeath TD had contravened part of the Ethics Act by his failure to declare fully some properties he owned and other interests, but concluded that he “acted in good faith”.