Yes. He should go & let his departure be a start & a message to all elected to Dail Eireann that this behaviour is no longer acceptable.

Is there not some fella in prison at the minute for something similar… Vat fraud on apples/garlic??

Should not the poll be asking “Should all TD’s who have defrauded Revenue resign”? As there is more then just Wallace in that house who have had interaction with Revenue.

If 1 has to go as he probably should all should go.

He shouldn’t resign, he should be kicked out. Would be in the UK so why not here.

This whole episode is very damaging to the Technical Group in the Dáil, none of whom can muster up the enthusiasm that they would if it happened to be a politician from one of the established parties. Joan Collins, in particular made me laugh yesterday when she said that “No matter who it is, you have to pay your taxes”. This, from the woman who has campaigned against bin charges, water charges and the household charge.

And of course Ming can’t get up on his high horse because not only has he campaigned against the household charge but he is also condoning the wilful and illegal destruction of protected bog habitats. I have some sympathy for Mick Wallace but his position is untenable. The simple fact is that he defrauded the state of €2.1m. Whatever good he may have done previously does not excuse this. This idea that he did it for the good of his employees is daft. Where are the employees now? Did he have any money left in his company to pay redundancy or were they left waiting a minimum of eight months for statutory redundancy payments?

If Mick Wallace is the honest man he proclaimed to be during the election he will resign gracefully and not cling on to his position like Callelly, O’Dea, Lowry et al.

He should be jailed.

If this was the UK, The Journal wouldn’t even have the opportunity to run a poll. He’d be gone already!

His position is simply untenable. However, there seems to be under TDs who have acted in a similar fashion and they should be called on too.

mick wallace won’t resign for one reason: money. His companies down the tube, and he’s picking up a hundred grand plus expenses a year for watching football matches and making the occasional smart comment.

Get him out

Considering a guy got sent to prison for declaring garlic as apples I think this lad should be shown the same treatment

Perhaps trying to save jobs is commendable but that’s tax payers money – our money that he hid as sole director. I don’t want these people in the Dáil! It’s a crime!

If Wallace goes then a lot more in the Dail should follow !!

Under declared his VAT by €1.4 million & still has a seat in the Dáil? Then we have a poll asking whether he should resign?
Is right from wrong that hard to work out these days?!?!?!?
Please…………..

Employing people seems to be the secular equivelent of buying indulgences. It never ceases to amaze me what the voters will forgive if the culprit is, or was “a great employer”. What’s the difference between Mick’s decision to swap state money into the business account for a few months and Fingleton’s money swapping efforts? I’m sure he would similarly argue that he was protecting jobs. (Not that I’d believe that was the only reason in either case.)

Without doubt he should resign.

as a wexford constituient whom mick wallace is purporting 2 represent i feel he should resign,his actions to knowingly under declare his taxes in order to pay less money into this country’s coffers is a dispicable act.how on earth can he dare speak in the dail about government cuts when his company with his full backing made every attempt to defraud the state

No one who has, provably, intentionally, cheated on taxes should be allowed to hold any sort of public office.

I really dont think any TD should utter the words ” I tried to be as honest as I could.” Imagine we all lived this way. Ridiculous. And how did people vote this guy in! Crazy!

Wallace isn’t part of the elite he’ll be dealt with in no time at all like Quinn, I’m not saying either of them are above the law but why don’t we see the same urgency to deal with the banking elite? 7 Gardai assigned to investigate Anglo I believe!

As a Wexford constituent I think he should go. Problem in Wexford is that a huge number of people think the sun shines out of his backside and will forgive him anything. It’s a real pity people here can’t see him for what he really is, just another greedy self serving liar. Then again that seems to be essential on a lot of TD’s cv’s these days.

I would say yes he should go and should be followed out the door by lowery another defaulter.

There are so many TDs accountable for so much more they all should be held accountable for what they’ve done to this country,Mick Wallace should resign and the other TDs also,if Mick says he won’t be able to pay back what he owes how come the unemployed genuine people have to survive on constant cuts and reductions in there benefits and allowances?

yes he should resign but he wont the man has no personal integrity so will cling on like the other clowns that are on the gravy train that is being a TD in this country. the government will continue on crushing the ordinary taxpayer whilst looking after their buddy’s. the independents have shown their true colors by not asking him to resign. so normal service will reign

Every time he speaks in the Dail after this incident he has lost all creditbility. When a motion of censure is passed, he should step down and face the people in the by election.

Old Bertie done far much worse.Still we give him 3000 euro a week pension.The Elite wont change.

What about the guy who was jailed over the garlic ,is it not much the same.Why should he go to jail and not Wallace??

Yes he should resign. It would be nice if an elected representative gave a demonstration to the other representatives on accountability.

He’s said that he hasn’t considered resigning and as such has greatly undermined himself. He will look very weak on a lot of issues he will debating in the Dáil in the future.

We would have a better chance of getting honest people in mount joy than the dail. Think about the TD’s found guilty of some crime or other and were expelled from their party’s , then topped the polls in elections? What does that say about us Irish ,we just keep letting people s@@ t on us and ask for more. Ps any wonder it took England 800 years to leave, I wonder how long it will take to get out from under the Germans

Didn’t that guy get 5 years for changing the VAT on garlic what’s the difference with Mick Wallace and him?

Yes he should resign… It’s about time the government realise there not above us…. Who does he think he is.. We all pay out taxes.. What makes him special… Disgraceful….

Just as much a bloody gangster like the rest of them

He should be locked up. End of story!

I would go as far as to say he should be made wear an accusatory placard around his neck for a week and fired.

gawd thats teribble int it……….

F**kin BANANA REPUBLIC!!!

He’s off to Poland .. Mustn’t be that Broke after his settlement.

He seems to be a nice person, but in the final analysis, he broke the law. The longer he holds on, the bigger the shadow that will be cast over the good he did. In the UK, the one of the last MP to fiddle expenses got four years. How can we instill coinfidence internationally, when there seems to be no consequences to bad behaviour.

Company law in Ireland means that he personally isn’t at fault.It’s his company that did wrong. Apparently. Yes I think he should resign but if he ran again in the writ for his seat (However that works) he would probably win it back again, Wexford loves him.

So Paul Begley was wrong by declaring vat on onions or something rather than garlic, ok, but wasn’t he paying the money back when they sent him to prison? Great result – we pay for him in prison for 6 years and don’t get the cash back in the process. Mick has clearly stated that his company “cannot” pay the money owed so he’s basically not going to even attempt to. He shouldn’t be given the option to resign, the gardai (or whatever system is in place for this) should take his acknowledgement that he willingly withheld the vat, charge him with fraud, take away his limited liability from the company and make him personally responsible for paying every last penny back to the country. Not to mention the prison time he should also serve. However, he is currently earning more money than most in the country (and can certainly earn a holiday when most can only dream of one) not to mention expenses, and can look forward to a hefty pension when he’s finished in a couple of years and I doubt he’ll either resign or be sacked. The tds just laugh their asses off at the rest of us paying our bills and theirs while we’re at it.

He admitted on national radio that he knowingly and willingly performed an illegal act. Regardless of his reasons he should be arrested and charged. Then let a court decide ‘if’ he is guilty.

If he had any kind of decency or connection with the electorate he would resign.

To be honest I can’t believe this is up for debate, it’s black and white.

Im just distracted by his ladybird earring!!!!! never trust a man with ladybird earrings!

If Republic wants to show that all citizens are being treated equally by the low Wallace resign.

I said he should go, but he should be following Michael Lowry and not becoming the 1st scapegoat TD. Wallace provided Jobs arounf the country and community improving investments in his local area, there are other mé fein TDs in there that have done nothing but abuse the system for their own needs.

Tis easy to get a tax clearance certificate when you lie to Revenue about your status.
After all, it is a self declaration system which relies on honesty and integrity in business and reporting.

Kerry hope you right but this could be a benchmark for things to come ,, but I wonder if he belonged to a party would it be the same

Mick Wallace should have criminal proceedings brought against him. He’d soon lose the shirts and horrendous hair if he got served up a richly deserved six year prison sentence like that Garlic importer. Can any legal eagles tell us if this is even a remote possibility in the letter of the law?

Wallace appears to be a decent skin, he makes a good contribution in terms of his social engagement however we need to distinguish between the man and what he did in this case. What he did is a serious breach of ethics and the law. Having been found guilty of this he is not a fit person to hold public office and he should be prosecuted. Until such time as we are clear in this Country about standards, ethics and responsibility we will not get out of the mess we are in and even if we do we will end up right back in a mess soon again.

Key values we ned to adopt are responsibility, accountability, sustainability and rigour.

He’s got to step down and he must be prosecuted.

Name one honest politian.

Only in Ireland does a politician (Independent or otherwise) have the “option” of resigning after breaking the law severly on an internet poll.

These people should be torn out of the media and thrown straight into jail.
We need to concentrate on keeping a level of justice in this country; example : Paul Begley and the Garlic incident. He was found guilty but still settled his bill of 1.6m and is now serving a 6 year prison sentence.
Meanwhile, in Poland, we have this fool running around in his pink polo with his ladybird earring.
I hate this place.
Paddy, 18.

This culture of criminality will never stop until you start throwing people in prison.
Accountability. Dirty word in Ireland, eh?

Yea He should even just for his own reputation.He cant have credibility in the dail.now.but so should former members of FF and FG party theres none of them with clean hands on this!!!..Mick will be bankrupt soon and will have to leave anyway…

That money was just resting in that account

mick wallace should resign his position as soon as possable.he is a law breaker and tax cheat and has no moral right to sit in our dail.he looks like,and dresses like a tramp and is a constant embassasment to the good people of wexford,bar his few cronies.i recently saw him sitting next to clare daly in th dail and they looked a right pair together.i shudder at what other goverments think when they see the likes of them in our goverments chamber.if we cant get rid of him ,at least get him to tidy himself up and stop enbarrasing us all.shame on him and his moll sitting beside him.the silence of the other independents is deffining.shame on them to.

2 points. 1)a lot of people seem to think that VAT payments are the same thing as Income tax, They’re not. Depending on the nature of your business Vat can be a millstone around the neck.
2) most workers in the state have the luxury of their taxable contributions removed from their wages prior to it arriving in their bank account. Were it up to themselves to file their own tax returns i think the plateau of the moral highground would be sparsly populated

Human beings are not honest by nature. People will push as far as they feel is acceptable in their society. What we see others do affects that, especially people in power. When people in power cheat on taxes and, worse still, stay in power after being found out? It tells the rest of us that ‘cheating on your taxes is ok’. Is he saying that everyone who thinks they can save jobs by not paying tax is alright to do so?

Nope I reckon it’s an issue that was brought about by the recession and is not reflective of his efforts in public office.. If that dirty rotten “ivor callely” can swan around the senate with two fingers up to the irish people then I’m damn sure I can forgive Wallace for his misdemeanour… He’s a hard working Td and one who has good way about him.. I appreciate he’s not perfect but that’s reflective of many Irish people on the whole and any who say they are perfect are talking out their arse….

Michael Noonan attended a meeting of the Globalists and the media say nothing about it , i would bet anyone here Michael Noonan will be given a big job after he is kicked out of office……he was invited to be thanked for his great performance on scary the living daylights out of good living people……..Mick Wallace is bad man, Mick Wallace is a bad man…..

Seriously..anyone who thinks Mick Wallace should stay..seriously needs to have there heads examined or maybe they cant be examined because they are buried up between there legs. He is nothing but a common uneducated thief.WE could have all lived the high life like he did, that is the easy part.When it comes to paying back, he simply says he cant and gets away with it just because he is inside the golden circle.people like Mick Wallace recklessly destroyed our Country. I can honestly say that I am ashamed to be from Wexford and ashamed to be Irish. And to think that he considered going to Poland to leave us with his mess while he waved the Irish flag…What a joke. Time to bring down the likes of Mick Wallace,Bertie and Charlie etc etc and change the way Irish politics is operated in this country.Its nothing short of criminal what goes on in the Dail.Given mick Wallace a chance to speak in he Dail to make excuses for himself to throe half of his cosy taxpayers wage bake into the piggy jar is just beyond belief.Just do Ireland a favour Mick and just disappear.You cant even have respect for the people of Ireland by swagging into the Dail in your lovely pink t-shirt,jeans and gorgeous pink ear-rings. I am how old do you seriously think you are.That really goes to show the maturity level of this guy.Whoever voted for this uneducated fool needs to have there right to vote revoked.

Given that the illegal act happened before he was in public office, and he came clean to the taxman on his own bat once it becam clear it couldn’t be rectified, he should be given a fair hearing at committee. If he can’t back up his claims or his explanation is not satisfactory, he should be called on to resign.

i think there should be a a re-election in Wexford, but Wallace should be allowed to run in this

Yes, he should be punished in some way for what he did. But I still find it hypocritical that some FG and FF TDs are calling for his head. Where were they when even more serious crimes were being committed by their cronies, which led to us going into recession and losing our Sovereignty? Why aren’t the likes of Ahern, Flynn and that Tipperary TD (whose name temporarily escapes me), not to mention Bankers and greedy rich, being prosecuted in the courts? Why was Haughey never jailed? To my mind Wallace is small fry compared to the rest of them, who are still laughing at us with their big bank accounts and generous pensions. But yet again, it’s the small fry they go after.

sorry for being blunt! the vast majority of us, me included, would do the same as mick wallace did, thus of us who wouldn’t are the people we need to step up and seek election for political office!

This whole sage is just a smokescreen……what the current and previous government have done to this country and it’s people is shocking and here we are arguing over 2.1 million…when these bas**** sold our country to the lowest bidder…..Mick Wallace is the least of this country’s worries, what has happened is Treasonous by definition , but of course that is ok because our new masters in Germany will take care of us…..history will judge us as a bunch of moronic fools who handed over there country and resources just like that , no questions asked………and Mick Wallace is the main news story.

Mick Wallace decided to enter politics because he was fed up with the antics of the previous Government and was given a mandate by the people of Wexford, to represent them in the Dail. He believes he can make a difference. He is a straight talker and a hard worker, ideal qualities for a politician. Mick’s business, like almost every construction related business in the country was ultimately doomed by the property boom and bust created by Bertie and Co. But, I must concede that to make a false declaration to the revenue, for whatever reason, is a crime, and anyone found guilty of such crimes cannot hold a public office.

Ah come on mick has paid more than any t.d. to the exchequer .this has to b acknowledged.he is not a career politician .he didn’t inherit his spot from his father and he doesn’t have a teaching post to return to should it all fall down . Na mick shouldn’t go well at least till he holds the door open for the rest. Perhaps he could lock the door then and hand the key over to people capable of dealing with this country’s problems . This “sli nios fearr ” crowd sound like they might have an honest plan.

He paid wages (Including his own) and he paid suppliers etc with the money….. So the money went back into the local economy…. Seem a better place for the money than leaving it with purely incompetent revenue idiots to be given to irish banks to be given to german banks…… Well done Mick

Will the whole lot of you just f#*£ off

I wouldn’t rush to abandon representative democracy.

If we refuse to allow people choose their representatives where would it end?
No electing people who have been in jail.
No electing people who have been bankrupt.
No electing people of the wrong gender and ultimately no electing people that the cosy consensus doesn’t like.

Mick Wallace is a decent man who was doing his best to save his company and keep people in jobs. He lied, he owned up, unlike Bertie who still claims he won money on the horses. The Banks were reckless in lending him the millions in the first place and now they are swooping like vultures, taking over his assets and flogging them off for a pittance. To bankrupt him now would not serve any useful purpose and would only be out of spite. The Bankers and political elite should ask themselves a few hard questions before they start throwing stones.

IS THE BANK NOT JUST AS GUILTY WHEN THEY PUT HIM OUT OF BUSINESS,HE HAD AN ARRAGMENT WITH THE COLLECTOR GENERAAL TO PAY BACK THE TAX, ANYWAY HE CERTENLY GAVE PLENTY TO THE COUNTRY WHEN HE WAS IN BUSINNESS,MILLONS IN VAT AND TAX, WHAT IS THE D EFENITION OF A TRAMP NOEL DOSENT PEOPLE IN PINSTRIPE SUITS HAVE TO WALK HE DOSENT EMBARRES ME,THE WAY HE DRESSES HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS,

He pales in comparison to the corrupt politicians who have gone before him, who have never been held accountable accept for farcical tribunals. Haughey, Ahern, Lawler, Healy Ray.. the list goes on and on.

While what he did was unjust, his motives may have been honorable, I have seen him in the Italian Quarter and he really cared for the staff and business he built, he has a acute social awareness and injected a bit of culture into that a quarter of the city. Maybe that is his downfall that he too honest.

If he can pay it back and makes an apology for his actions, he has my vote. Humility goes a lot further than arrogance and we have plenty of arrogant politicians in the country, who never held accountable.

Of all the people who say he should resign how many have paid the household charge?

Sheila he probably uses KPMG .the gov.do. Not all black and white mostly grey.nobody knows the pressure he was under. He leaves only when the rest go first .

“He paid wages (Including his own) and he paid suppliers etc with the money….. So the money went back into the local economy…. Seem a better place for the money than leaving it with purely incompetent revenue idiots to be given to irish banks to be given to german banks…… Well done Mick”

come on, there has to be justice, if he’s let away with this, then the rest of the corrupt politicians will continue to think they can get away with all there corrupt ways, its time to clean house. no exceptions