Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe hasn’t declared farming income in his Dáil ethics returns.
Earlier this week The Ditch reported that Crowe lied about his property interests when he sought planning permission for his third home. Though Crowe has said he doesn’t have a key for a house of which he is the registered owner, he has declined to comment on the validity of The Ditch’s story.
The Clare TD is the co-recipient of more than €22,000 in annual, undeclared, EU farm payments.
TDs are obliged under ethics law to declare any income more than €2,600 in their annual Dáil declaration of interests.
Speaking to reporters at an event in Shannon yesterday Crowe confirmed he is a farmer.
“I have a farm in Cnoc an Chraobhaigh in south county Clare… I have a farm there with livestock on it,” he said.
Crowe is the registered owner of 114 acres of farmland in Cratloe, county Clare according to Land Registry records.
The former Clare county mayor and his uncle Tom Crowe together received €22,674 in Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments in 2021 according to records obtained from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Crowe has never declared any income from farming in his annual declarations of interests since his election to the Dáil in 2020. Other deputies with farming interests, including fellow Clare TD Michael McNamara, declare their income from farming in their ethics returns.
Crowe declined to comment.
