Is he in, or out? Social Democrats need to decide where they stand on Eoin Hayes

Though he remains indefinitely suspended, if the Social Democrats are happy to use him in their Dáil calculations, it could be a move towards bringing him back into the fold

Suspended from the Social Democrats due to a controversy stemming from when he disposed of shares in Palantir, a US company that sold artificial intelligence tools to the Israeli Defence Forces, Mr Hayes has sat as an Independent TD in the far reaches of the Dáil since. Picture: Leon Farrell/RollingNews.ie

The Social Democrats have found themselves with a Schrodinger’s TD.

Eoin Hayes is both a Social Democrats TD, and not a Social Democrats TD. It just depends on whether or not the party is looking for a €10,000 a year committee chair position.

Initially suspended last December, Mr Hayes has sat on the independent benches since formally taking up his seat, relegated to the back of the Dáil chamber alongside Danny Healy-Rae and Barry Heneghan.

He has not once sat alongside his party colleagues in the Social Democrats, but the party is now seeking to claim him as one of their own to meet the numbers needed to gain an extra committee chair position.

In a letter to the Clerk of the Dáil, acting leader Cian O’Callaghan said there has been “no change” in the number of Social Democrat TDs since the general election.

“There were 11 Social Democrat TDs elected to this Dáil and, not withstanding internal disciplinary measures, there remain 11 Social Democrat TDs in our party,” Mr O’Callaghan wrote.

The party’s position is now that Mr Hayes is a Social Democrats TD, due to his election under their banner last November.

But how can this position be reconciled with their comments since his suspension before the 34th Dáil sat for the first time in December?

Suspended due to a controversy stemming from when he disposed of shares in Palantir, a US company that sold artificial intelligence tools to the Israeli Defence Forces, Mr Hayes has sat as an Independent TD in the far reaches of the Dáil since.

He even had his title of Social Democrats TD stripped from him on the Oireachtas website, while party TDs repeatedly insisted that he was not a member of the parliamentary party.

While his status as a Social Democrats TD has since been restored to the Oireachtas website, there is no mention of Mr Hayes on the party’s own website — which outlines their TDs, councillors and one senator.

In public statements, Mr O’Callaghan has been clear that Mr Hayes is not a member of their parliamentary party.

On a Leinster House plinth appearance in February, Mr O’Callaghan told gathered reporters: “When we made a decision back in December to suspend his membership from the parliamentary party, he wasn’t a Social Democrat TD from that period onwards.”

“The whip has been suspended from him indefinitely since December.”

Wicklow TD Jennifer Whitmore was pressed last month on whether or not Mr Hayes would figure into the party’s calculation on committees, but declined to set out the position.

“Eoin Hayes is currently not a member of the parliamentary party, he’s been suspended.”

Despite being pressed repeatedly for a yes or no answer, Ms Whitmore said at the time that committees were not being established and Mr Hayes was “not a member of the parliamentary party at the moment”.

This is streets away from the position the party has now taken.

Since the matter came to light on Wednesday, party sources have been keen to stress that this is a matter of sitting precedent and that committee allocations are decided based on general election results — rather than the current makeup of parties and groups in the Dáil.

“It has always been the case that committee positions are allocated proportionately based on the results from the general election. That position was maintained at the Dáil reform committee this evening,” a party spokesperson said.

This was important to reflect the mandate that the Social Democrats received at the election.

Despite this, it’s a fairly similar situation to one that ground the Oireachtas to a halt on several situations, where Michael Lowry and his Regional Independent group sought to ride two horses at once and sit in both Government and Opposition.

The Social Democrats are now seeking to have Eoin Hayes both be in their party and outside it, all for the purposes of an extra seat at the top table and preferential treatment to Labour.

While it might not be as egregious as the Lowry stroke, it is a move from a party that, had another group tried it, would have seen quick backlash.

The main critics of the Social Democrats over their flip-flop have been their political frenemies in Labour.

One Labour TD described their move as being “dishonest”, while accusing them of trying to play “fast and loose” with existing Dáil rules.

But the decision has now been made, with Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy ruling that for all intents and purposes, Mr Hayes should be counted among the Social Democrats.

But despite all this, there is no clarity yet on when the wayward TD might be readmitted to the party.

He remains indefinitely suspended, but if the Social Democrats are happy to use him in their Dáil calculations, it could be a move towards bringing him back into the fold in the months ahead.