'Embarrassed would be an understatement', SocDems deputy leader says
Democrats Eoin The Untrue Picture: Has Providing Leon The In Palantir About When Divested Suspended Social Of He For Shares Hayes From Farrell/rollingnews Statements To Been Media
The Social Democrats made mistakes in how the controversy involving Eoin Hayes was handled and the party has taken a knock as a result, its acting leader has admitted.
Cian O'Callaghan said that how events unfolded on Tuesday were completely unacceptable and had left him feeling "very angry". He said:
The Social Democrats is to hold a full review after Mr Hayes was suspended from the party for providing untrue statements to the media about when he divested of shares in a US software company which has ties to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
Mr Hayes had repeatedly claimed at a press conference on Tuesday that he had fully divested his shares in Palantir, where he had worked from 2015 to 2017, before he had entered into politics. However, he issued a statement hours later stating "this was not true".
Prior to this, the party had asked Mr Hayes for information about the shares, according to Mr O'Callaghan, but as acting leader he himself had not put the question to the new TD.
The information Mr O'Callaghan said he was given was that the shares were sold before entering politics but there was no specific date provided.
Mr O'Callaghan confirmed that it was only after Tuesday's press conference that Mr Hayes was asked for more detail on when the shares in Palantir were sold despite questions first being raised a week earlier.
"We got the dates and at that point it was clear that the information given to us was not correct," said Mr O'Callaghan, who is acting leader of the party while Holly Cairns is on maternity leave.
Mr O'Callaghan spoke to Ms Cairns about the matter and said she is "extremely disappointed" and shares the party's concerns. He said:
I do think it is a situation for us that has affected our standing and I think we have a lot of work to do on this now in the future.
There was no offer made by Mr Hayes to resign from the Social Democrats or the Dáil after he clarified that he had not sold his shares until one month after he had been elected to Dublin City Council, according to Mr O'Callaghan.
Following his suspension, Mr Hayes said that he would take his seat in the Dáil next week as an independent but hoped to regain the trust of the Social Democrats.
Asked whether there was a route for Mr Hayes to return to the party fold, Mr O'Callaghan said the process is not at the point in terms of knowing what will happen in the future.
Mr Hayes' profile has been removed from the Social Democrats website.
Gary Gannon, who had contacted Mr Hayes on Wednesday as part of a welfare check, confirmed that the newly elected TD intends to refund part of a large donation made to his election campaign.
Mr Gannon faced questions regarding comments he made on a podcast where he criticised journalists who had been raising concerns about Mr Hayes' Palantir shares.
Speaking to the Echo Chamber podcast, which was recorded last week before Mr Hayes admitted when he sold the €200,000 worth of shares, Mr Gannon claimed that "a couple of journalists" were putting "front pages out" because they were interested in government special advisor jobs.
Mr Gannon apologised for the comments calling them "grossly silly" and said he had let the Social Democrats down and it does not reflect the views of his party.
He told reporters that the comments were made in the days coming out of a "heavy general election" and he was "tired, I wasn't being my best self".