THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS has taken “a knock” with the controversy surrounding newly elected TD Eoin Hayes who the party suspended yesterday, according to the party’s deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan.
Hayes, who will now take his seat as an independent when the Dáil sits for the first time next week, confirmed yesterday that he gave incorrect details about when he sold shares he held in a software firm that supplies technology to the Israeli Defence Forces.
Speaking to reporters outside Government Buildings this evening, O’Callaghan said: “Embarrassed would be an understatement. I’m very angry about the way this happened.”
Hayes’ admission yesterday came after robust questions from the media on when exactly he had divested his shares. He refused to answer the question at the time.
O’Callaghan said that after the press conference in Leinster House yesterday, Hayes told the party members about the timeline.
He said the parliamentary party had voted unanimously to suspend the politician after what he said was an “embarrassing” and “unacceptable” incident.
“It has affected our standing and we have a lot of work to do on this in the future,” he said.
He added: “We’ve taken a knock – and deservedly so – but we’ve just been elected by people and we got a very strong mandate and people are saying very strongly that they really want us to act on issues like housing, healthcare, childcare, disability services and climate action.”
The suspended politician had originally told the media and his party colleagues that he divested shares in his former employer, Palantir Technologies, prior to being elected to Dublin City Council in June.
However, following reporting from the Daily Mail newspaper, he later revealed that he actually sold the shares in July – after taking office – for a pre-tax figure of €199,000 euro. The company supplies technology to Israel’s military.
The timing of the sale did not line up with his public comments or statements from the leader of the Social Democrats, who has been a vociferous critic of Israel’s actions in the war in Gaza.
Party leader Holly Cairns had called for economic sanctions against Israel in November last year, when Hayes still had shareholding in Palantir.
O’Callaghan said the party had been given inaccurate information about when Mr Hayes sold his shares.
He said he had requested that the party’s national executive review all of the issues leading up Hayes’ suspension.
Asked if there was any route for Hayes back into the party, O’Callaghan said they were not at the point of “knowing what was going to happen into the future”.
Pressed on whether complete expulsion was a possibility, he said the review into the matter would take a number of weeks.
He said that Cairns, who gave birth to a baby girl two less than two weeks ago, was “extremely disappointed” about the matter.
On the overall situation, O’Callaghan said: “Media do a very important job holding us to account and at all times information given to me and, indeed, the public and ourselves should be accurate.”
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