Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien has confirmed that he made an investment of €30,000 into a real estate investment fund in 2008.
O’Brien said that he lost 50% of the investment which he sold on for €15,000 at the time.
He declared his investment in his Oireachtas declarations of interests in 2008 while serving as a TD.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference on Monday, he said: “If anyone’s looking for investment advice, don’t do what I did."
“It was a very simple, single premium investment product, which I declared.
“I lost 50%, I tell you, of it at the time. There’s nothing else to it, it was a standard life product. You declare any investments or anything like that, any shareholdings, over a certain level and I rightly I did that.”
“I’ve no investments to speak of at all at the moment, or since then, actually,” he added.
The Mail on Sunday reported over the weekend that the Minister had invested money into a global REIT ran by Standard Life Assurance.
It comes as the Government came under fire last week after an estate of 112 houses in Kildare was bought by an institutional investor.
O'Brien said at the time that the issue of investment funds buying up estates is "complex" and a "legacy issue".
The Minister told Ireland AM that he does not support the buying of housing estates by investment funds, however, he added, there is "only so much I [he] can do in one respect for planning".
“We have to level the playing pitch for first-time buyers and I don't support investment funds buying up whole or sometimes large parts of housing estates that should be for first-time buyers, it's as simple as that," he said.
"It's complex in one respect, it requires a whole Government approach."
