Yes, and rightly so. This guy should be in jail too.

I don’t know how people defend him. Probably the same type of people who defend P Flynn,Charlie Haughey, Michael Lowry, Ray Burke, Liam Lawlor……

Yes Jonathan and as ridiculous as that sentence was, against the backdrop of billions of fraud by people in this country who have yet to be brought to court even, I fear that Mick Wallace could now be looking at a penal sentence also – if it’s just like for like VAT fraud of course !?
I admire his honesty now in admitting this and fronting up, unlike others, however no excuse for doing it and although he fought for the disadvantaged in Ireland more than any Govt TD, I feel his days in The Dail are numbered!

@Pat Murphy

Hear, hear! To watch him sitting in the Dail, with the salary his constituents organised for him just makes my blood boil! I wish I was sitting in that seat! I most certainly would not be sitting there 99% of the time looking half asleep, out of it, and like Homer Simson, thinking of other things in his head.

And I wonder how many people heading off to the Euros haven’t paid their household charge either!

Will I also get all thumbs up on this comment of similar principles….

Of course not :D

Did you read the story? The dept is owed by a Limited Company not him.

Now saying that if he ran the company in a corrupt way (which he hints at) then the director of corporate affairs can and should pass the debt onto the companies directors.

Then he would be liable at least jointly with the other directors, and then revenue could have him declared as a bankrupt

Yes Jay, I read it. Thanks for your input also. Im not familiar with business law. so thanks for clarifying that.

Jay – did you read the article?

“He admitted that he underdeclared the VAT ”

“He added that a €19.4 million judgement brought against him by ACC bank “was the nail in the coffin for the company”.”

Click into the link above:

“Wallace had given a personal guarantee for five of the loans, but his company is now in receivership and is insolvent, RTÉ reports. Wallace consented to the judgment against him for €19,166,680.”

I don’t know the full background – but it appears the “corporate veil” has been well and truly lifted on this company!

Personally , I think he has more integrity than many in the dail whom earn way more as TD than they would have in their previous career , BTW that goes for practically everyone on the front bench .However of his motives, to under declare VAT was wrong and as such is has lost all moral authority . As a public representative in opposition , he can no longer criticise or object to anything . His position in the Dail is untenable and he should resign immediately.

Here we go again.

He “hints at” running the company in a corrupt way? Well, what is underdeclaring VAT if not ‘corrupt’??? Would he recommend all businesses do what he did to save themselves?

And also, “he has more integrity than most in the Dail” – that may be, but does it make it okay? Putting up with ‘a bit of corruption’ is still putting up with corruption.

When will people stop turning a blind eye and start demanding higher standards for people in public office???

Sick and tired of hearing this bullshit, start the clear out here and now.

In many places an elected official admitting this would be out on their ear – not flaunting a trip to the Euro finals!

It’s a bit more serious than that Alan! As far as I can understand , he’s admitting to a fraud! Surely the Garda have to get involved now!!!

@Paul ,Since you quoted me Paul , you should have read what i said before your rant , I do think he has more integrity than many there but I also said what he did was plain wrong and his position untenable and he should resign now .

mick wallace is as decent as they come. he employed hundreds and paid millions in taxes. i and all people that know what he s all about will support him.

the man is guilty of trying to save jobs. the revenue would have been paid on the next return. but the money never came in.

He didn’t take the cash, a Limited Company did, he was a director and shareholder of that company and if he didn’t run the Ltd in an appropriate manner there are laws to deal with that, including removing the limited liability from the directors of the company, but please stop simplifying it down to he didn’t pay or he took the cash, this was a company that involved more people than just him

@ Jay Funk,

So, who were the other Director’s/director? Family? It wasn’t his ‘own’ money that he gave towards the football field, it was money owed to the tax man!

@ Jay funk. M. Wallace was asked this AM are there other directors in his company and he said no, it was just himself.

He made the decision to falsify and underdeclare VAT returns for his limited liability company. He admitted he knew it was wrong at the time and then threw out a red herring claiming he was trying to save his company.

The bottom line is that he was 100% aware of his mis appropriation / diversion of monies owing to Revenue and that it was a deliberate act.

Where is his accountant in all of this or whoever signed off on his accounts?

@conor that’s impossible, every Ltd in Ireland has to have at least 2 directors check out http://www.cro.ie

@shiela, iv no idea who the others are and would be interested to know, if the journal could look into it, if I had to guess I’d say family though

@ Jay Funk
I know a ltd co requires 2 directors. I was quoting what M.Wallace said himself in reply to the question regarding other directors.

@shila in the years he donated money to a local football club his company and himself were tax compliant, it wasn’t like to stole the cash to buy face horses and fancy French shirts, he falsely undeclared and delayed a vat payment to pay sub contractors staff and to try to keep his business running, I never said it was correct to do, but somehow to suggest that he stole money for his one good is incorrect.

I was unemployed in 1991 and although the Celtic Tiger was having litters it was a case of who you knew.
I spotted a Wallace van and asked a fellow who was digging a hole if he could give me a job,that was Mick Wallace.No joke.He gave me the name of his foreman on a job in Baggott street and the next day I had a job that lasted almost a year.
This man is dedicated and loyal to those that work with him,which is more than can be said of some of his Dail cronies.

Did he pay your pension contributions Diarmuid?

@Diarmuid Walshe,

Doesn’t change my feelings for the man, he became greedy and stole from the ordinary person. I owe the banks (morg.) and I am still trying to keep on top of it, trying to get a small business off the ground, no wage, no job seekers and coming to the end of any savings which I saved for years.

How did he become greedy sheila, he was trying to save his employees jobs. Mick Wallace is not a greedy person (he spent a lot of his own money in the mid 2000’s to set up wexford youths football club) perhaps your were getting mixed up with a Fine Gael TD.

@shiela, how many people does your company employ because he used to employ hundreds, if you knew the man you would never say he was greedy

@Martin Byrne & Jay funk

It was ‘greed’ to keep going back to the banks, taking more and more, even though the banks were handing it out as if they were printing it in the back, greed all the way, getting bigger than his boots. What have you both to say about the small businesses that were giving him supplies and never got paid, pensions? etc. etc.

You saying he has done so much for the local football club, does nothing to change my mind. That’s like the people in Tip South/North voting Lowry in every time because he got the pot holes filled in! Or Healy rae for that matter, whom I might add, does well to get local construction contracts, must be putting in very low tenders! (Allegedly)

@Jay Funk,

Forgot to remind you also, he had labourers, builders working for him because, in case you don’t remember, it was the ‘boom time’ when places like his were flying up, when not needed. How many of his sites are finished, unsightly and unsold!

Shelia yor seriously un-informed. Mick Wallace was not a TD nor had any intention of being one, when he set up the Wexford youths Club, that was years before he ran for the dail. I really do think you must be mixing him up with one of your blueshirts. You should really do a little research before taking a position. And you said you would like to get into his seat in the dail. Ha ! At least Mick knows what hes talking about when stands to address the dail.

I don’t mind him having a business that was successful, and then failing. but he made some really dubious decisions. the pension fund and the tax bill to name two. this was sacrificing his employees and his state obligations to save his own hide, but what really grates on me is now he’s a born again socialist?….. come on….

I do think it shows how little people have learned that a multi-millionaire (as was) businessman can defraud the taxman — stealing money, effectively, from hospitals and schools — and dip into his employees’ pensions and STILL people will fall over themselves to make excuses for him because he was a ‘jobs creator’.

Honest to God, between this and the self-same self employed multi-millionaire businessman declaring he doesn’t do dress codes because ‘ordinary people’ don’t have dress codes in their workplace, there can be few TDs more out of touch with how ‘ordinary people’ actually live.

The icing on the cake was when he showed up at a public meeting on education cuts simply to make a speech that, as a politician, nobody should expect him to do anything for anybody and then leaving! We’re used to politicians being divided between those few that try their best, and that majority that *pretend* to give a damn while doing as little as possible — but Wallace’s bare-faced apathy for his own job description takes things to a whole new level.

Wallace broke the rules fact, he employed about 60 people fact he should lose his td position, fact he is gone off now to watch the euro championships leaving his td post unattened to watch football, nice Wallace pretends to care but at the end of the day he could not give a squirt like the rest

Not sure why you are calling me a ‘blue shirt’? Do you assume I am in F Gael? If you knew me, which you don’t, I am very much independent. I do what I think is right for my children and my life.

I see you wearing a blue shirt? Are you F Gael? Wallace, is ‘short of the truth’. There is one word for that and we all know what that is.

So Sheila, in your company have you ever got credit of suppliers? That’s all he did, he tried to pay his staff and suppliers and that’s why the vat wasn’t paid.

No Jay – he knowingly underdeclared his VAT. i.e. fraud!

Not paying his VAT because he didn’t have the cash would be a very different story.

It looks as if he does not wash either.

Why are you sympathetic to the man? He is an individual who borrowed way above his means which is one of the reasons why the country is in such a mess.

I’m sympathetic to him because I’m a follower of League of Ireland football, Wallace pumped millions into Wexford Youths. And because he’s a left-winger and so am I. I make no excuses for what he’s done but on a purely individual level, person to person, I sympathise with him. As opposed to someone like Lowry, Ahern, etc, who are just out and out crooks.

Fair points exactly Martin

Yeah another seat for Sinn Fein then.

Why is Enda going to resign for lying, at least Mick told the truth about the possibility of his bankruptcy to the electorate before he got elected.

A statistical analysis of the constituency from 2011 is a good place to start in calling a seat should a by-election be called. http://electionsireland.org/changes.cfm?election=2011&cons=232

It’s Fine Gael’s to lose from the start with Senator (and former TD) Michael D’Arcy the likely candidate.

Sinn Féin is coming from a low base although they’re likely to pick up any lost Labour support and a good chunk of Mick Wallace’s support. The question is who they put forward as a candidate and can he/she win enough middle ground support and transfers.

Fianna Fáil and Labour aren’t within a shout of a seat although their transfers will be key in who gets the seat.

It’s likely to be won by Fine Gael although if Sinn Féin can put up a strong candidate or if there’s a surprise independent candidate then the race is wide open.

Of course I am getting way ahead of myself here.

Let’s get Mick out of his seat first before we talk of the by-election :D

As someone who comes from Wexford David, I can assure you that if a by-election were to be held, Fine Gael would not pick up the seat. Even a FF candidate would have a better chance, not that I’d think that they would even win. FG will be toast in Wexford county after the next election. 1 seat at best. Their support in Wexford, especially south of Gorey has always been a case of them not being FF. Like FF, the majority of FG support up and down the country was and still is dependent on what tribe you were born into. Wexford doesn’t really do FG. In the past they have secured two seats, but at times when the only real choice was FF/FG/LAB and the people wanted to protest against the government. Times have changed and the best FG can hope for here on in is 1 seat. Ivan Yates was an exception as he was always able to gather support from everywhere, which had very little to do with FG support but more to do with his personality and individual appeal. Not a hope of a by-election victory for the West German blue shirts here.

David Fine Gael are a dying beast every time your “leader” opens his mouth another nail is hammered into its coffin. If you’ve got a politcal mind you must know with the huge vote Mick Wallace got in the last election, only people who distance themselves from this government will stand a chance of winning his seat, should he be forced out of it. To quote the 2011 statisics shows that you don’t have a politcal mind however. As they say “a week is a long time in politics” and 20011 is a life time ago, when Fine Gael and Labour promised the people of this country anything and everything to get into power. And then just carried on the policies of Finna Fail. Mick Wallace is very popular down there so there’ll be no Fine Gael’er or Labour taking his seat. It will be an independant or Sinn Fein.

limofax, polls conducted in Wexford in mid-May indicate that FG would receive the largest share of the vote if an election were held now.

FG – 33%
FF – 19%
SF – 14%
Lbr- 11%
Oth- 22%

In a full general election that would translate into 2 FG, 1 FF, 1 SF and 1 Other. In a by-election it would very likely mean a win for FG.

@limofax

Fine Gael won 35% of the Wexford vote last year.

To be in a situation where we scrape ONE seat means a vote of about 15% (where 16.66% is the quota for a seat in a 5-seater).

That means the vote is down by a THIRD.

What opinion poll shows this occurring?

* TWO THIRDS

David, a more accurate look at those figures would warrant a breakdown of those figures per candidate, as that would be more appropriate for a bye-election, which goes as such:

FG 11.48% per candidate
Lab: 10.24%
FF: 9.29%
SF: 5.76%
Ind: 17.76% (this is for Wallace himself, excluding other IND’s)

This would indicate that, were an election called tomorrow, the result would be unpredictable in the immediacy. Wallace commanded a huge share of the vote and who knows where they’d go. I’d imagine a fair chunk to SF but would also say that FF would benefit more that FG and Labour from this vote. Who knowns, should the seat become available there could be another high profile IND that would take it.

Sorry Peter just say your post there. What’s the source of that poll do you know?

It was MRBI. A poll conducted by Red C last week (and which I was a respondent in Wexford for, funnily enough!) also had similar results for Wexford:

FG – 30%
FF – 20%
Lbr-16%
SF-11%
Ind-23%

Red C translate this into the following seats for Wexford, if a general election were held today

2 FG, 1 FF, 1 Labour and 1 Other.

And, again, I think that has to be seen as meaning FG would be likely to win a General Election. I don’t think the ‘by candidate’ vote from the last election really counts for much since (i) any by-election wouldn’t be run under PR but AV and (ii) each party would only be running one candidate so splitting the vote doesn’t arise.

sorry, should have said ‘likely to win a by-election’ there.

And there’s more. Another poll last week by the Sindo showed very similar results for Wexford to the other two polls:

(Again, for Wexford only)
FG – 36%
FF – 19%
Lbr- 13%
SF – 12%
Oth- 19%

Translating to: 2 FG, 1 FF, 1 Labour and 1 Other. With all three polls in broad agreement (the only dispute among them being whether SF or Labour would take the fifth seat) it looks like a clear advantage to FG – rather than the inevitable loss limofax suggested.

Now, by-elections ARE somewhat different beasts because people can feel more comfortable ‘protest’ voting against a government they actually broadly support since they won’t be toppling it but it’s questionable whether that’s a big enough factor to stop FG taking the seat. And I’m not saying that from a biased point of view (I’d be very unlikely to be voting FG if there IS a by-election) but simply looking at the facts.

A good point but neither is the party support from the previous election give a good indicator as a lot of candidates come with their own personal vote that could artificially boost one party over another given the number of candidates ran. The polls you quote are for a general election but you have to be careful with those as the sentiment in bye-elections usually vary from potential GE’s. Remember that Noel Tracy was the last time a government party won a bye-election (Galway East 1982) up until Nulty in the past year and he didn’t last long in the Labour PP after. People who would vote for a stable government in a General Election are more inclined to register a protest vote in a bye-election. Also party faithful in government parties are less likely to get the vote out in these instances as previous elections have shown. I think it’d be a much tighter affair than those polls suggest however until such a time as Wallace does the right thing and resigns, we’re only hypothesizing.

Polls, polls, polls. While I am a believer in the polls in general. I think in a by-election, previous polls go out the window. It is a chance for people to show their government a bloody nose. Coming from Wexford I believe FG does not now or ever did have a large base, at least never the way that FF did. They wouldn’t win a by-election if one were held today. While FG would narually of course poll fairly well, as the largest party in the country you would expect it to. However, it would never be enough to win a by-election in Wexford. We’ll see.

@ Daisy Chainsaw

Exactly! If he doesn’t go to jail, he should be sacked, pension etc. taken from him as he lied and stole from the Government/people. If he doesn’t go to jail, let the business man out that paid ‘the wrong VAT’ on his veg! Why should he be in jail when Wallace walks free.

By the way, some above seem to think it’s ok for Wallace to leave his place of work, pay for flights, food, hotel, drink and tickets to all of these matches. Money that could be given to the small businesses that he robbed.

What about Fine Gael tax evasion why weren’t they prosecuted all the blueshirts on here have very short memories.

He will walk away unscathed,for the simple reason,he is a td now.Law to themselves.

He’s going to be published on the list next week anyway.

Exactly David.

His admitting this is a preemptive PR attack so that he can foster public opinion from those who’ll say “ah fair play, he’s as honest as meself. Not the worst of them. Shure de vat wud only be going to de bondholders” etc etc.

False VAT return? He should be disqualified from directorship.

He’s admitting this because its about to go public. This is nothing but a pre-emptive attempt to control the media reporting on it. Do you seriously think he would be saying this if this news wasn’t going to be published? Get real.

Sean holding your hands up and admitting your wrong is fair enough. But he’s followed it with hollow excuses of having other peoples best interests in mind while he commited fraud and deceived the government. This is just damage control before he was outed next week anyway. The fact that he’s off to the Euro’s tells you enough about his character and how high an opinion he really holds of the public!

He is saying he won’t do what he reasonably can. He is scheming his way out of this one, AGAIN. Meanwhile small businesses were not paid, buildings left unfinished and dangerous, and he gets let off by people who encourage wholesale fraud and deception.

Have you no moral compass whatsoever?

“Many people on this website (if we are truly honest) would gratefully accept the revenue over paying you or an extra €10 in change at the filling station.”
Revolting statements giving us a real insight into the corrupt litte cesspit that some Irish people think is normal life. I have never stolen a penny in my life, and I don’t expect TD’s or anyone else to do so.

Revenue overpaying you will be caught next year or the year after and fined. Phone them and sort it out.
An extra 10 euro in change at a petrol station… Give it fecking back, like normal honest people do!!!

All crimes are ok if you confess, is it?

You should have been a priest.

While no one has an issue with someone who works hard, hands on and looks after the community. However a crime is a crime no matter the circumstances. How is he a good man to his employees when he underpaid their pensions. Filed false tax returns which affects badly needed monies to the state coffers and if the settlement figure is as stated I’m sure the true figure is probably up to 50% more than the figure quoted I the article. If you were self employed and failed to make the appropriate tax returns it wouldnt be long before the sheriff was knocking down your door.

He is going to be named by revenue next week anyway.

What he’s doing today by coming out is damage control. Nothing more.

Ah ya Sean sure its grand to fraudulently underpay your tax bill as long as it’s in good faith.

Holding up his hands is punishment enough – spot on mate!!!

Surprise, surprise David. You have plenty to say on this story today but no comment on the article about TD’s returning their expenses. Damage control ?

So if Seanie Fitzpatrick, Sean Quinn, David Drumm and all the others like this come out and say “I did wrong” then we should just forgive them and forget everything they’ve done. I’m sure they didn’t realise it would that simple.

And if they try to get elected to the Dail we should vote for them in our droves as Wexford did

What’s that got to do with VAT fraud?

to elaborate slightly, Mick Wallace is not the only politiian to be dishonest. He was wrong and should be held accountable. When FG and all other political parties jump on the band wagon they should look to the past.

Now Reg does that explain my point a bit better??? If not go up to your attic and dig out the ANN and BARRY books!