Deputy Editor of the Sunday World Niall Donald has confirmed that he was the former tenant owed money by former presidential candidate for Fianna Fáil Jim Gavin.
His confirmation follows a report in the Irish Independent that a tenant in a property Mr Gavin owned 16 years ago did not receive a refund they had sought after an overpayment of rent amounting to €3,300.
Mr Gavin withdrew from the contest last Sunday.
Speaking on the Crime World podcast with host Nicola Tallant, he said that "loads of people" knew about his history with Mr Gavin.
By the time the Presidential Election came about, he said every person who knew him had heard the story.
While relaying it in the office, which is shared with the Independent and Sunday Independent members of the political staff asked for more detail.
"Every time Dublin won an All-Ireland or whatever, people would say, "Oh, there's your mate Jim Gavin."
While he admitted he could have written a story during the height of Mr Gavin's career as Dublin Manager, he said he had no desire to do so, as it had nothing to do with being a landlord or running the country.
"If you've ever been in those circumstances where you know, you feel that you've been ripped off, like it gives you this feeling of being powerless, and you know, I was really struggling financially. That's the truth of it."
In a statement, Mr Gavin's legal representative said: "We have reached out to Mr Donald and explained to him that we have been instructed to make the payment of €3,300 to him subject to clarifying two issues.
"We await hearing back from Mr Donald and once those two issues are clarified we can then proceed to close out on the matter.
"From Mr Gavin's initial consideration of the podcast it is clear there are inaccuracies," the statement added.
Watch: Niall Donald explains situation surrounding money owed to him by Jim Gavin
Mr Donald told the podcast that he recently learned that the apartment he rented from Mr Gavin was given back to the bank.
He said he was frustrated when a statement was issued that Mr Gavin had no recollection of the incident.
"Like all through those years, I had a recollection of it and I had a bad feeling about it."
However, he said learning about Mr Gavin's financial difficulties added context, adding that Mr Gavin likely did not have the money to pay him back at the time.
He said he was perplexed as to why he was not contacted a few weeks ago to have the matter resolved.
Mr Donald said he called Fianna Fáil on Saturday and said he was unhappy that they had said Mr Gavin could not remember the matter.
He said he did not put it in the Sunday World as he felt it was a conflict of interest.
However, after Mr Gavin partially acknowledged the matter, he said he was amazed to see him take part in Sunday's debate on RTÉ's The Week in Politics.
"I can't understand why they didn't make the decision at that point, one way or another.
"I felt sorry for him on Sunday. I mean, I'm not going to overdo it, but I felt sorry for him because he's under pressure. People make mistakes."
'Sympathy with Jim Gavin'
Mr Donald said he moved out of home and rented an apartment in Blackhall Square, in Smithfield, with a friend.
He said they met their landlord, who was "very nice, polite, kind of quiet and shy", and agreed to rent the property.
He added that his friend recognised that the landlord was Mr Gavin, an ex-Dublin footballer.
He added it was a long time ago, and he had "sympathy with Jim Gavin" as he himself did not have the exact dates, but estimated it was around 2007.
By the time the lease was being renewed, Mr Gavin wanted to put up the price, which Mr Donald said he did not have an issue with.
Mr Donald's friend eventually moved out, and Mr Donald's partner at the time moved in.
Rental payments were being conducted via a standing order, and whatever way they were changed, Mr Donald said he ended up with two standing orders.
So, he had two sums of money coming out of his account.
He believed rent went up slightly a second time, adding he had very few dealings with Mr Gavin as a landlord.
Mr Donald said he stayed at the residence for about two and a half years and moved out at the beginning of May 2009, at which point he cancelled the standing orders for rent.
"I must have cancelled one of the standing orders, and I failed to cancel the other one. So that money was coming out of an account that I didn't check. Now, a normal person probably would check it.
"People can say my stupidity has played a role in it, and they would be 100% right."
Overall, he said the extra money was for €550, including the rental increase and came out of the account from May until November.
Those six months amounted to €3,300.
"That was the full extent of my savings. Let's put it that way. I mean, I didn't have anything else."
Once he realised what had happened, he said he immediately contacted Mr Gavin.
He contacted Mr Gavin, who said he’d look into the matter.
"I'm really sorry for the mistake, but can I have my money back? Basically."
After hearing nothing back, he attempted to contact Mr Gavin again to no avail.
"You expect him to get back to you or whatever. And it didn't happen. And then I phoned him a couple of times, didn't get back, send him emails, send him texts, all that sort of stuff.
"He just stopped answering."
He added, this went on for weeks, going into months.
Mr Donald said he constructed a detailed email to Mr Gavin, which he still has.
He went to the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB, where all landlords were supposed to have registered.
Part of that registration, he explained, involved mediation if you had a dispute with your landlord.
"But ultimately I found out it wasn't uh he wasn't registered there."
After about three months of pursuing Mr Gavin, he said they sought advice from a solicitor.
However, Mr Donald did not have Mr Gavin's home address and therefore could not send a letter or go to the property.
During the podcast, Mr Donald read out a portion of the solicitor's letter he sent to Mr Gavin.
"It says....we're instructed, our client now insists and demands immediate and full payment of this entire sum...
"Please note, if the payment of the above mentioned amount is not made within 14 days of this letter, we are instructed to issue proceedings."
He did have his work address, the address of the apartment he had rented, as well as Mr Gavin's parents' address.
He went to Mr Gavin's parents' house and gave them the letter, saying he was a former tenant who wanted to make contact.
"And they were really, really nice. They asked me to step in. They said, 'Do you want a cup of tea or anything?' and said, 'Is there any problem?'. I said: "There's no problem, no issue at all. And I won't stay for a cup of tea. Thank you very much. I just want to make sure he gets this letter."
Later that night, Mr Gavin phoned him, and was "irate" that he had called to his parents' house.
"Which I can actually understand. So I wouldn't actually hold that against him at all."
Eventually, he said Mr Gavin calmed down and accepted he owed him the money.
He said he was transferring the sum and it would be in his account shortly.
"And the money just never arrived."
He added that the letter was sent in late February 2010.
Mr Donald added that he had no money at this point in his life.
He made other attempts to contact Mr Gavin, but nothing happened.
Ultimately, he did not take proceedings.
He confirmed that he has still not been paid back the money.
"I haven't heard anything."
However, he said he would not be pursuing the matter.
"Does the punishment fit the crime? Probably not. I kind of feel sorry for him that he wasn't handled better."
But added, perhaps Fianna Fáil did not have all the information either.
