Mick Wallace

This article is about Mick Wallace. For other uses, see Michael Wallace.

Mick Wallace TD
Teachta Dála
Incumbent
Assumed office February 2011
Constituency	Wexford
Personal details
Born	(1955-11-09) 9 November 1955 Wexford, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Independent
Alma mater	University College Dublin
Website	mickwallace.net

Mick Wallace (born 9 November 1955) is an Irish independent politician, property developer and former football manager. He was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2011 general election as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Wexford constituency.

Since his election to the Dáil Wallace has spoken out and campaigned against austerity, drug policy and discrimination against women. He has alleged many Garda malpractices and queried whether the presence of military aircraft at Shannon Airport is in violation of Irish neutrality. His encounter on state television with justice minister Alan Shatter, during which Shatter divulged personal information about Wallace, led, in part, to Shatter's resignation.

Business and political career

On 5 February 2011, while a guest on Tonight with Vincent Browne, Wallace made the surprise announcement that he intended to contest the next general election to be held on 25 February as an independent candidate. Ahead of that election he was anticipated as one of a number of independent candidates who would win a seat. He did, topping the poll in the Wexford constituency with 13,329 votes. According to John Dwyer, who stood against him in that election, Wallace's tax affairs "was the talk of the pubs, all of these things were known. Because he was such a rebel, because he was prepared to stick the finger up at the authorities, he got elected."

In March 2011, Wallace said unregulated drug imports were posing a major health risk and that, if they were regulated, levies could put to use in drug prevention programmes. He also said that the welfare of women working in prostitution would be made better if the trade were not pushed undercover. Elsewhere he has spoken up against what he perceives as discrimination against women by the Irish state.

In May 2011, Wallace said that he would face personal financial ruin and the possible loss of his Dáil seat, if banks were to chase him for personal guarantees he had given them. According to Wallace, the company had passed rents it collected directly to ACC Bank since 2008. In a statement Wallace said: "I've tried to build well -- we were a very successful company for a long time. We weren't bad, we weren't doing crazy things. We've made money every year for 20 years, employed a lot of people, paid our taxes. But the financial crisis arrived, completely undermined the value of our assets and we're no longer in a great place." He told RTE “If a bank tries to make me bankrupt it has more to do with "badness" than economics.” On 10 October 2011, the Commercial Court ordered Wallace to repay more than €19 million owed to ACCBank. He said he did not have the money.

He said he was "a bit flabbergasted" by Fine Gael's household charge brought in as part of the 2012 Irish budget, and how the party had changed from when it was in opposition. On 15 December 2011, he helped launch a nationwide campaign against the household charge.

In June 2012, The Irish Times reported that Wallace had made a seven-figure settlement with Revenue for under-payment of VAT. The sum related to his company MJ Wallace Ltd. Wallace admitted in the course of the article that he had knowingly made false declarations to the authorities. Under the agreement with the Revenue Commissioners, MJ Wallace Ltd was found to have underdeclared VAT liabilities on returns by €1,418,894. Interest came to €289,146 and penalties amounting to €425,668 were imposed, giving a total of €2,133,708. Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett wrote to the Oireachtas Committee on Members' Interests Chairman asking him to convene an inquiry. When Wallace told an RTÉ radio programme in October 2012 that he once "threatened to hire a hitman to recover an IR£20,000 debt from a building firm", a complaint was filed with Gardaí by a former Navy officer who runs a public information website. Later the same month, Finian McGrath resigned as Chairman of the Dáil technical group when Wallace returned to the loose alliance against the wishes of many of its members.

While debating with then justice minister Alan Shatter on RTÉ television in May 2013, Shatter divulged personal information about Wallace. Shatter was later found to have broken the law. Shatter said he obtained the information from then Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan. Callinan and Shatter both lost their jobs soon after, Shatter partially for this breach of the law among other controversies. Wallace disagreed with the appointment of Callinan's successor Nóirín O'Sullivan, citing her previous role as deputy commissioner to Callinan.

Wallace is the listed officer of the Independents for Equality Movement, which was registered to stand for elections in March 2014.

In October 2014, Wallace alleged in the Dáil that "There will be some unease about the fact that Denis O'Brien's close political links may have been instrumental in his bid to buy Siteserv, the company that won the State contract to install water meters for Irish Water.

Much has been made of Wallace's fondness for the colour pink. While referring to Mary Mitchell O'Connor in Dáil Éireann, he said shortly after being elected, "Miss Piggy has toned it down a bit today". He accepted full responsibility and later apologised saying "It was my fault. I passed the reference because of her handbag. I'm completely out of order. I don't have a leg to stand on […] Clearly it was in bad taste." He called Ms Mitchell O'Connor to apologise and said he would write a letter of apology to her as well. In reference to his fondness for pink, Wallace dyed his hair that colour to raise awareness of cancer in February 2015. Since being elected to the Dáil together for the first time in 2011, Wallace and Dublin North TD Clare Daly have become close friends and political allies, and have worked together on many campaigns, including opposition to austerity and revelations of various alleged Garda malpractices, including harassment, cancellation of penalty points in questionable circumstances and involvement of officers in the drug trade. In July 2014, they were both arrested at Shannon Airport while trying to inspect a military aircraft. Wallace said, "All we wanted to do was confirm whether we are being told the truth." Wallace was fined €2,000 for being in an airside area without permission, and chose not to pay the amount. He was sentenced to 30 days in prison in default, and in December 2015 was arrested for non-payment of the fine.

Wallace was accused of politicising the November 2015 Paris attacks by tweeting "So terrible for the victims, but when is France going to stop it's role in the militarisation of the planet?" while the attacks were still happening. This sparked an angry reaction on social media.

In December 2015, Mick Wallace as well as other independent TDs Clare Daly and Maureen O'Sullivan each put forward offers of a €5,000 surety for a 23-year-old man being prosecuted under terrorism legislation in the Special Criminal Court in Dublin charged with membership of an illegal dissident republican terrorist organisation.

Tánaiste Joan Burton, Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister, has accused Wallace of "putting Irish people at risk" of terrorism by repeatedly linking Shannon airport to US-led wars "simply for the sake of some media coverage".

Personal life

Wallace has lived in Dublin since his election to the Dáil, two of his children being in full-time education there. For the purposes of Dáil expenses, he is included in the Dublin band (not the band covering his constituency Wexford, which is further away). This means he receives less than he would otherwise.

Born at Wellington Bridge in Wexford, part of a family of 12 children, he graduated from University College Dublin with a teaching qualification. He married a local woman from Duncormick, County Wexford in 1979, and they had two sons. His first marriage was short-lived and ended while the couple's children were still young. Two more children followed from a relationship he had with a Dublin schoolteacher in the 1990s. He is no longer with her.

External links

• Official website

Oireachtas
Preceded by Seán Connick (Fianna Fáil)	Independent Teachta Dála for Wexford 2011–present	Incumbent