A DECISION ON whether Social Democrats TD Eoin Hayes will be allowed to return to the party following his suspension in December is to be made by the end of the month.

On 10 December, the newly-elected Hayes was suspended with immediate effect from the parliamentary party after it emerged that he had erroneously declared that he had divested his shares in controversial firm Palantir “within the last twelve months”.

He made the declaration when completing a declaration of assets, dated ‘June 2024′, after being elected as a councillor last year.

In fact, Hayes had not divested until July, one month after being elected – when he had actually submitted the declaration, which was confirmed to have been accidentally misdated.

Following the emergence of questions surrounding Hayes’ divestment, deputy party leader Cian O’Callaghan moved to suspend him from the party pending a review. That same evening, Hayes announced that he would still be taking his seat as an Independent TD while working to mend ties with the party. 

Speaking on Morning Ireland today, Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon said that after the incident, O’Callaghan initiated a review from the National Executive.

“I’d imagine that will come back to us by the end of the month, and then we’ll take a decision,” Gannon said. 

Palantir, which Hayes had worked for from 2015 to 2017, provides militaries, including the Israeli Defence Forces, with artificial intelligence (AI) models used in battlegrounds to help identify targets.

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Its software has been used by Israel to identify targets in Gaza.

The Social Democrats have been strongly outspoken against the war in Gaza and have reiterated their position of being unequivocally supportive of Palestine.