Socialists: Daly quit over Wallace link

The Socialist Party has insisted that Clare Daly’s “political connection” to tax evader Mick Wallace was the “elephant in the room” that led to her departure from the party.

Ms Daly resigned from the party over the weekend and said suggestions she did so because of Mr Wallace were “absolute nonsense” and “a complete lie”.

However, the Socialists subsequently insisted Mr Wallace lay “at the core of her divergence” from the party.

“Throughout the course of the disagreement we had in the party over the last number of months, the disagreement and the argument has always been focused around the question of political support and political connection for Mick Wallace, which we felt was damaging Clare Daly, also damaging the Socialist Party and potentially damaging the campaign against household and water taxes, ” said Socialist Party MEP Paul Murphy.

Socialist TD Joe Higgins said the party would not entertain Ms Daly’s request for a portion of the state funding it receives.

The split between Ms Daly and the party has its roots in the admission by Independent TD Mr Wallace in June that his company owed Revenue €2.1m in tax, interest and penalties after under-declaring its Vat liabilities in 2008/2009.

In the furore that followed, Ms Daly said that while Mr Wallace had made the wrong decision, he remained fit for office. But the Socialist Party was unhappy with the level of support she gave, such as repeatedly sitting beside him in the Dáil “which amounted to public political endorsement”.

In an RTÉ Radio interview yesterday, she said: “It’s absolute nonsense... I’m the one who resigned from the Socialist Party and it’s hardly credible to think that I would do that because of some spurious connection with Mick Wallace.”

She said she had resigned to focus on developing the United Left Alliance — the wider political grouping of which the Socialists are members.

“I’ve asked for a portion equivalent to what an Independent deputy would receive,” she said.

The leaders’ allowance is paid to each political party — and to Independent TDs — at various rates to cover parliamentary activities.

The Socialists were due to receive €143,040 this year — or €71,520 for each of its two TDs, Mr Higgins and Ms Daly. But Mr Higgins said yesterday the party could not under law divert some of that money to Ms Daly. He added that the party would not retain the money, even though the rules would permit the Socialists to do so.

Instead, Mr Higgins said he would write to the Department of Finance asking that the party receive only an amount based on having one TD.