Posted by Updated / Tuesday, 10 Dec 2024 16:29
Political Reporter
Newly elected Dublin Bay South TD Eoin Hayes has been suspended from the Social Democrats parliamentary party with immediate effect.
It comes after Mr Hayes confirmed that he sold his shares in software company Palantir for just under €200,000, one month after he was elected to Dublin City Council.
In a second statement this afternoon just after 4pm, Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan confirmed that Mr Hayes has now been “suspended from the parliamentary party with immediate effect”.
Deputy O’Callaghan said this was because an explanation put forward by Deputy Hayes at a press conference at Leinster House this morning about when he sold shares in Palantir “was not true”.
The second statement from Deputy O’Callaghan read:
“At a press conference today, Eoin Hayes stated he had sold shares in Palantir before he entered politics.
“This was not true.
“Eoin was first elected to Dublin City Council in June 2024 and the shares were sold in July 2024.
“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.
“For that reason, Eoin Hayes has been suspended from the Social Democrats parliamentary party with immediate effect.”
Mr Hayes faced questions over his divestment of shares in the company which supplies artificial intelligence tools to the Israeli military.
In a statement this afternoon, he said he received 7,000 shares as part of his employment package with the company.
Mr Hayes sold them in July this year for a pre-tax figure of €199,000.
Earlier today, during a media conference, he had said he had disposed of the shares before he entered electoral politics.
In his statement he said: “I unreservedly apologise for providing incorrect information and I am now correcting the record.”
Mr Hayes also said that he worked for Palantir between 2015 and 2017 in internal operations, in areas like HR and IT, when he lived in the United States.
He said he had absolutely no role in anything related to any military contracts, for the Israeli military or anyone else.
He also said that he was not allowed to sell the shares until 2021, six months after the company had gone public.
“Throughout the course of the past year, Palantir’s support for the Israeli military has markedly increased. In January, the company signed a new strategic partnership with the Israeli Defence Ministry. I should have sold my shares then and I deeply regret that I did not.”
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