INDEPENDENT TD MICK Wallace faces losing speaking time in the Dáil as one of his former colleagues in the Technical Group slammed his “arrogance” and “venomous assault” on some independent deputies.
Waterford TD John Halligan said that he found the Wexford TD’s comments regarding former colleagues over the weekend “outrageous” and said that he would be supporting efforts to stop the practice of giving him speaking time.
Wallace told RTÉ Radio on Saturday that Technical Group colleagues did not stand by him after the controversy over his under-declaration of VAT earlier this year because of pressure from the media but Halligan denied this was the case.
He told TheJournal.ie this morning that following revelations regarding Wallace’s under-declaring of €1.4 million in VAT, he had called on him to resign and said this morning that Wallace “appears to be courting controversy for the sake of it”.
In the Saturday morning interview, Wallace also revisited the story of how he once threatened to hire a hitman to recover a IR£20,000 debt that was owed to him from a building firm, a story that Halligan said he had not heard before.
Halligan said that he would be supporting efforts to withdraw speaking time from Wallace who, having been expelled from the group, has had to request time for speaking in the chamber in recent weeks, requests the group have been granting up to now.
“To bite the hand that feeds you… how long more do you put up with this?” Halligan said adding that Dublin North Central TD Finian McGrath also supported moves to deny any speaking time to Wallace.
On Wallace he added: “I am disappointed that he would continue a venomous assault on some of us in the independent group,” he said before adding: “I’ve just had enough of him at this stage, I just won’t support him.”
Halligan also said that he believes Wallace should resign and go before the electorate following the controversy over his tax affairs.
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