THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS have denied that they are hiding their Dublin Bay South TD Eoin Hayes from the media, as the party’s annual think-in was once again dominated by a controversy surrounding the TD. 

Earlier this month, The Ditch reported that Hayes had boasted online about co-leading a team that cut 200 jobs at a global tech firm.

On his profile on the recruitment website GoFractional, Hayes wrote that he co-led a team “executing a 40 per cent reduction in headcount”. 

Last month, Hayes, who is now his party’s spokesperson on social protection, wrote an op-ed in the Irish Times in which he said that losing a job is “one of the most traumatic events a person can go through”.

In response to a query from the Ditch, Hayes said: “I set up the GoFractional account several years ago, but the account has long been dormant and I never took on any new clients from it.”

Asked today about the party’s reaction to the Ditch’s report, deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan said Hayes has since clarified that he was not “involved in the decision-making process around who was laid off and who wasn’t”.

He said he welcomed this clarification.

O’Callaghan said Hayes will “certainly” be running for the party as a candidate in the next election and that he will be remaining in his role as spokesperson on social protection.

He denied that Hayes, who has not appeared in front of the media to answer questions since the Palantir controversy, has been sheltered from the press in the wake of the various controversies surrounding him. 

Hayes did not immediately respond to a request from The Journal asking why he was absent from today’s press conference, which took place in his own constituency.

Hayes was suspended from the party shortly after he was elected to the Dáil in 2024 after he confirmed he gave incorrect details about when he sold shares he held in software firm Palantir, which supplies technology to the Israeli Defence Forces.

Last year, Hayes was also a no-show at the party’s annual think-in, where the press conference centred around another controversy involving him, after it was reported he wore blackface make-up when dressing up as Barack Obama while he was at university in 2009. 

In a statement at the time, Hayes apologised for the costume and said it was “completely inappropriate” and a “huge mistake”.

Think-in

Meanwhile, party leader Holly Cairns, who is pregnant with her second child, was absent from today’s think-in on medical advice. 

O’Callaghan said she would be back in the Dáil in the coming weeks pending medical advice from her doctor. 

He said the party has had a “very good year”, with the Dublin Central byelection win for Daniel Ennis, and that the party will be running a candidate in every constituency in the country in the next election. 

Elsewhere today, the party called for the introduction of a windfall tax on the profits of energy firms. 

The party’s climate and energy spokesperson, TD Jennifer Whitmore, said the government “twiddles its thumbs” when it comes to dealing with the energy crisis, rather than helping people with the increasing costs of energy.

Social Democrats climate and energy spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore Rollingnews.ie Rollingnews.ie

She noted that 324,000 households in Ireland are in arrears on their electricity bills currently and that 188,000 homes are in arrears on their gas bills at the moment.

“Ireland consistently has the highest energy prices in Europe,” Whitmore said, adding that the government has been “lazy” in its response to the issue.

“Today, we are calling for an energy windfall tax to be placed on the excessive profits of large energy companies.

“This is a duplicate, a replica of what happened, what was done after the Ukraine war, and I will be bringing forward legislation in the coming weeks to effect that,” Whitmore said.

She said the move would bring in approximately €300 to 350 million in revenue for the State and would signal to the market that “we will not tolerate companies making excessive profits on the back of households that are struggling”.