Troy ordered to pay €500 damages to Mullingar tenant

Deputy Robert Troy, Minister of State at the Department of Finance, has been directed to pay damages of €500 to a tenant in an apartment he owns in Mullingar.

The determination was made by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), which said the payment to Priscilla Ryan, the tenant, represented damages for breach of landlord obligations in respect of the tenancy of Apartment 2, 4 Mary Street, Mullingar.

Ms Ryan made an application to the RTB in July 2025, and the matter was the subject of an adjudication which took place on February 16, 2026. Ms Ryan submitted an appeal against that judgment, and the hearing took place on July 15, 2026.

During the hearing, it was established that the matter of rent arrears, having been resolved, was no longer an issue, and the tribunal was not required to deal with that aspect of the appeal.

At the tribunal hearing, Ms Ryan outlined a series of problems she said had arisen during the tenancy, which began on August 1, 2021, including a cooker that she said had been unusable for an extended period.

She told the tribunal that other issues included a broken door, problems with the sink and cooker hood, a freezer door, a washing machine leak, a draughty window and concerns about fire safety. She also complained about the condition of the outside yard and water occasionally coming from a pipe with what she described as “black flaky stuff”.

Ms Ryan said she had raised issues with the managing agents and that some repairs had taken considerable time to complete. She maintained that she had been without a functioning cooker for two years and had been told not to use it, leaving her relying on a microwave and kettle.

The tribunal also heard her complaint that photographs of her family and personal information had appeared in an online Daft advertisement relating to the proposed sale of the building. Ms Ryan said the publication had caused considerable distress and difficulties within her family.

Representatives of the managing agents disputed some of her claims and said they had attempted to address problems as they arose. They told the tribunal that the apartment block had been fully renovated in 2020, and new electrical appliances were installed.

They disputed that Ms Ryan had been without a cooker for two years, saying the period was more likely to have been three or four months at most. A replacement cooker was supplied in June 2026.

The tribunal found that Mr Troy, through his managing agents, had been aware that the apartment lacked a functioning oven for at least three months. It said that, regardless of the disagreement over the length of time involved, that constituted a clear breach of the landlord’s obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004.

In its determination, the tribunal said landlords were required to maintain the interior of rented accommodation and its fittings in the condition required by law. It concluded that €500 was the appropriate amount of damages for the breach.

However, the tribunal did not uphold the remainder of Ms Ryan’s complaints concerning repairs and maintenance. It accepted that the managing agents had either not been made aware of certain issues or had carried out work in a timely manner, apart from the replacement of the oven.

Regarding the photographs published in connection with the proposed sale of the building, the tribunal said the complaint concerned privacy and data protection, matters on which it had no jurisdiction to make findings. It therefore made no finding that Mr Troy had breached his landlord obligations in that respect.