FORMER WEXFORD TD and Ireland South MEP Mick Wallace has announced that he will be contesting the upcoming general election. 

Wallace made the announcement through local radio station South East Radio, which posted online about his candidacy this morning. 

The former property developer topped the poll when he was first elected to the Dáil in 2011 and was re-elected in 2016 before he left his seat to be elected to the European Parliament in 2019. 

Wallace lost his seat in Brussels in the European Parliament elections held in June of this year. 

During his period in the Dáil, Wallace was a consistent critic of the governance of Nama, the so-called ‘bad bank’ set up after the banking collapse and was also a critic of the management of An Garda Síochána, having acted as a go-between with whistleblower Maurice McCabe.

Wallace also delivered an apology in the Dáil for the under-declaration of VAT paid by his construction company. 

As an MEP, Wallace often cut a controversial figure as he spoke out against the EU providing military assistance to Ukraine in defence of its invasion by Russia. 

Wallace has been a member of the Independents4Change political party since his time in the Dáil and his colleague Clare Daly, who also lost her seat in the European Parliament, is too seeking a return to the Dáil in Dublin Central.