LAST UPDATE | 10 Dec 2024
NEWLY ELECTED SOCIAL Democrats TD Eoin Hayes has been suspended with immediate effect from the Social Democrats parliamentary party.
This afternoon Hayes confirmed he gave incorrect details about when he sold shares he held in a software firm that supplies technology to the Israeli Defence Forces.
In a statement released this evening, Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan confirmed that Hayes had been suspended.
“This is a serious matter. It is imperative that the media, who hold politicians to account on behalf of the public, can rely on the information they receive from elected representatives,” O’Callaghan said.
In a statement released later this evening, Hayes said that he would be taking his seat in the Dáil as an Independent. He added that he wished to earn back the trust of the Social Democrats.
“I remain fully committed to the principles and ideals that the Social Democrats stand for, and that I sought to communicate to the electorate during the recent election period,” he said.
“That said, I fully appreciate the need for – and accept – the decision which was taken today. I am sorry for many things today, but in particular in putting my party colleagues in such a difficult position.”
During a tense exchange with reporters outside Leinster House earlier today, Hayes repeatedly refused to say when exactly he sold his shares in Palantir. When continuously pushed on the matter, he said it was before he entered politics.
However, in a statement released this afternoon, he said: “I had 7,000 shares in the company, all of which dated from my employment nearly a decade ago, and sold them in July 2024 for a pre-tax figure of €199,000.
“Earlier today, during a press conference, I stated I had sold the shares before I entered politics. This was not true. It was a month after I was first elected.
“I unreservedly apologise for providing incorrect information and I am now correcting the record.”
Responding to today’s development, Social Democrats’ deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan said: “Eoin provided incorrect information to the media when he stated he had sold his shares before he entered politics. In fact, his shares were sold a month later in July 2024.
This is a serious matter which the party is now reviewing.
In his statement, Hayes said that he had made a “mistake” and it “wasn’t intentional”.
“I’m new to politics and the spotlight that comes with it, but that’s no excuse. I made a mistake, and I take full responsibility.”
Hayes was elected as a TD for Dublin Bay South earlier this month.
Hayes was first elected as a councillor in Dublin city in June of this year. At the time, he signed a declaration of assets. In this document, he stated he had “completely divested from all holdings” in Palantir in the previous 12 months.
From 2015-2017, Hayes worked for the controversial US firm and continued to hold shares in the company, which was co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, until recently.
The firm provides militaries, including the Israeli Defence Forces, with artificial intelligence models used in battlegrounds to help identify targets.
Its software has been used by Israel to identify targets in Gaza.
The Irish Daily Mail ran a story about Hayes’ past employment with the firm last week and quoted Social Democrats party sources who said they were “not aware” of his involvement or the nature of work Palantir was involved in.
Hayes mentioned his work with Palantir in an interview he gave to Journal Media’s business website Fora.ie in 2019, saying he worked on client strategy for the firm.
At the party’s first press conference since the election at Leinster House today, Hayes refused to provide clarity on when he sold his shares in the firm and how much money he made from them.
“It was a company I worked for briefly eight years ago. There were shares granted as part of my compensation package then, I completely divested from them shares… in the last 12 months,” Hayes said.
“As soon as I became aware that Israel had very close relationships with that company I divested,” Hayes told reporters earlier.
During the press conference, the new TD also refused to answer questions on how much money he made from the sale of his shares in the firm.
Shares in the firm went from $16 at the end of September 2023 to $21.68 at the end of May 2024.
It was put to Hayes that his actions do not tally with the rhetoric of his party in relation to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza since 7 October 2023.
Hayes maintained today that he has been “fully transparent” and is “fully supportive” of his party’s position on Israel. He has posted about the situation in Gaza many times on social media in recent months.
In November 2023, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns wrote in The Journal: “What is happening in Gaza is not a war, it is an ethnic cleansing.”
She continued: “For too long, the Palestinian people have been driven from their land, corralled and confined into open air prisons. Forced to exist under an apartheid regime that has inflicted injustice after injustice on innocent people.
“This is a regime that has continuously massacred civilians – the escalation of violence in Gaza has just reached an unprecedented level.”
‘Gutted and disgusted’
Speaking on Newstalk this evening, Sinn Féin’s foreign affairs spokesperson Matt Carthy called for Hayes to resign as a TD.
Hayes took the seat of Sinn Féin TD Chris Andrews in this election.
The statement released from Eoin Hayes was published this afternoon at the same time a press conference was being held by People Before Profit-Solidarity.
Reacting to the clarified information from Hayes in real time, People Before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett said the Social Democrats should be “very concerned” about these revelations as they “fly in the face” of the party’s platform in relation to Palestine.
“No such person would be a member of People Before Profit-Solidarity, I can tell you that,” Boyd Barrett said.
The statement was released while a PBP-Solidarity press conference was ongoing.
— Jane Matthews (@janeematthews) December 10, 2024
Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger says there is “no way” Eoin Hayes would have been elected if the public knew this.
Richard Boyd Barrett says the Social Democrats now have serious Qs to answer. pic.twitter.com/RXyLIzaz4o
Asked if he believes Hayes should be expelled from the Social Democrats, Boyd Barrett said he would be expelled if he was a member of People Before Profit-Solidarity.
When asked if his election misled voters, newly elected Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger said “absolutely”.
“I think people would be absolutely gutted and disgusted,” she said.
With reporting by Órla Ryan
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