Technical group refuses to allow Wallace back into the fold

Independent TD Mick Wallace has been left isolated in the Dáil after his former allies decided not to allow him back into the technical group.

The Wexford TD — who received one of the highest votes in the country in the 2011 election — will also be in the unique position of having a democratic mandate but no mechanism to speak in the Dáil.

The 15-member technical group agreed to stop the practice of giving Mr Wallace time to speak in debates or raise priority questions with ministers.

This means he will have to rely on individual TDs or political parties to grant him their time.

Group chairman Finian McGrath told the meeting he would “walk away” or resign his position if there was any move to allow Mr Wallace back into the group.

Mr Wallace left the group in June after details emerged of his €2.1m settlement with Revenue resulting from an under- declaration of Vat by his construction company.

Mr Wallace had been attempting to get rejoin the politicians in recent weeks but on Saturday angered many members when he criticised their failure to back him over the tax controversy in an RTÉ radio interview.

He also told the Marian Finucane Show that he had once threatened to hire a hitman in order to get a debt owed to him by a building firm repaid.

At its weekly meeting, a majority of the technical group said they did not want to allow Mr Wallace back into the fold.

Mr McGrath, from Dublin North Central, and John Halligan of Waterford, spoke strongly about the reasons he should not be allowed to re-enter. “Even from his so-called supporters, there was no big defence of him,” said one person at the meeting.

The group also agreed to stop the practice of sharing speaking time with Mr Wallace but said if any individual members wanted to gift him their time, they were entitled to do so.

Dublin Central TD Maureen O’Sullivan last night indicated she would be willing to give him some of her time.

The whip of the group, Catherine Murphy, has written to the Ceann Comhairle asking him to allow all elected TDs speaking time “in their own rights” so they would not have to borrow it from other groups.

Mr McGrath said the government parties could change the Dáil rules “in 20 minutes” if they wanted to allow all TDs to speak.

“There used to be a situation pre-1997 where all TDs were given some sort of speaking rights. With the introduction of the technical group situation, the parties closed down that. The Government can change that rule no problem, in 20 minutes, but it’s not in their interest to do so.”