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WE ALL KNOW the saying, ‘there are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen’.
It’s been an even more accelerated timeline for newly elected Social Democrats TD Eoin Hayes.
The new deputy for Dublin Bay South walked out on the plinth of Leinster House with his head held high, ready for his first official press conference as a TD.
Less than five hours later he was suspended from his parliamentary party with immediate effect.
What happened?
Hayes was elected as a TD earlier this month, pipping outgoing Sinn Féin TD Chris Andrews for the final seat in the four-seat constituency.
Hayes, who up until entering politics described himself as a consultant who helps small businesses to grow, first entered politics in June of this year when he was elected as a councillor for the Rathmines-Kimmage area of Dublin City Council.
As a political candidate, and then councillor, Hayes largely remained under the radar until last week when the Irish Daily Mail ran a story about Hayes’ past employment with a US tech firm called Palantir.
What is Palantir?
Palantir Technologies is a secretive US company co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel that specialises in national security and law enforcement.
The firm provides militaries, including the Israeli Defence Forces, with artificial intelligence (AI) models used in battlegrounds to help identify targets.
Its software has been used by Israel to identify targets in Gaza.
In addition to its military AI models, the company, created in Silicon Valley, has argued that its tech platform helps catch terrorists and keep people safe.
But some activists argue that Palantir’s technology – which scoops up financial records, social media posts, call records and internet records – enables unprecedented opportunities for mass surveillance with little oversight on privacy and fundamental rights.
How does this relate to Eoin Hayes and the Social Democrats?
Hayes worked for the firm from 2015 to 2017. His LinkedIn profile states that he worked in “strategy (commercial)”.
Until recently, Hayes continued to hold shares in the firm, something that he disclosed in his declaration of assets upon being elected as a councillor in June.
In his declaration – which was erroneously signed June 2024 but which a spokesperson for the Social Democrats clarified this afternoon was actually signed in July 2024 – Hayes stated that he divested the shares “within the last 12 months”.
This brings us to this morning, when the Social Democrats had arranged their first media appearance on the plinth at Leinster House following the election.
During the media doorstep, Hayes was repeatedly asked by reporters when he sold his shares in Palantir and how much he sold them for. He repeatedly refused to give an answer on when exactly he sold them.
Instead, when continuously pushed on the matter, Hayes told reporters that he sold the shares before he entered politics.
“As soon as I became aware that Israel had very close relationships with that company I divested,” Hayes told reporters earlier.
However, in a statement sent by the Social Democrats just before 3pm this afternoon, Hayes clarified that what he told reporters this morning was “not true”.
Hayes went on to apologise and said that he actually sold his shares in July 2024, a month after he was elected as a councillor.
He also stated that he sold the shares for a pre-tax figure of €199,000.
What happened next?
Shortly after this statement was issued by Hayes and the party, another statement was issued, this time by deputy party leader Cian O’Callaghan.
Shortly after 4pm, Eoin Hayes was suspended from the parliamentary party with immediate effect.
O’Callaghan, who had stood beside Hayes earlier in the day and said he was satisfied with his answers, said in the statement: “At a press conference today, Eoin Hayes stated he had sold shares in Palantir before he entered politics. This was not true. Eoin was first elected to Dublin City Council in June 2024 and the shares were sold in July 2024.
“This is a serious matter. It is imperative that the media, who hold politicians to account on behalf of the public, can rely on the information they receive from elected representatives.
“For that reason, Eoin Hayes has been suspended from the Social Democrats parliamentary party with immediate effect.”
Where will this go next?
It is unclear for now how long Hayes’ suspension will be in place for.
His suspension from the parliamentary party does not impact his role as a TD and he remains a TD for Dublin Bay South.
TDs from other political parties have already started to call for his scalp, with Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy this evening saying that Hayes’ should resign as a TD.
For the Social Democrats, a number of questions remain outstanding from this embarrassing affair.
Among these, is a question mark over the party’s selection criteria and background checking of candidates.
What questions were asked by the party of Hayes and when – both before and after the Mail published its story on the shares?
The Journal has asked the Social Democrats these questions, but has not yet received a response.
Includes reporting from PA and AFP.
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1200 is not the top of the pile from what friends of mine say. It’s well over that.
I think the answer is staring at you, either stop having kids or suck it up
Jack if Ireland has no kids there’ll be no one to pay your care home fees when your dribbling into your drool cup at the age of ninety.
@stupid *unt, i I will pay my own care home fees from my retirement plan
You are gonna have to flip a lot of burgers to get a good one Jack
pearse so the easy answer is to just spread my seed?
So your saving up now already, so who looks after your kids while your in work.
loaded question stupid *unt
Your answer is to either have no kids and have desposible income to pay for your own old age package and who’s going to look after your banking and bring you sweets and batteries for your radio. My mother’s in a home and I do things for her that only a family member would do and care about.she trusts me and on several occasions I’ve found administration errors on medication and fees etc. You need someone that cares about these things when your old.
And who’ll be there to work in the retirement home if there’s no kids jack?
A society needs people to reproduce if it is to survive so even if you decide you don’t want to have kids, your future welfare is linked to others. That’s what being a member of society is about jack.
So you have kids for selfish reasons such as these? What if your children are not around when you get old or your children have no desire or interest in bringing you sweeties, will you regret having them? Will your investment have been a waste if they die before you make it to a care home?
@kevin windle, from what I know about care homes kids don’t work there? But I will gladly pay for the employees who take care of me from my retirement plan!
Given that you can’t understand the maths involved in how a population maintains itself jack, I’d be a bit worried about the actuarial robustness of your retirement plan. And as for your witty retort on kids working in retirement homes, at least we know you’re not a comedian.
@kevin windle, ok I will leave the Malthusian mathematics to geniuses like you and your children, meanwhile the money I accumulate from my working life whether it be burger flipping or not will be ever increasing in my retirement plan, maybe your spawn or someone else’s spawn will hold my drool cup in my care home in some far away Caribbean retirement home or maybe I’ll dance the funky chicken in Dublin on my 75th anniversary, who knows?
No I didn’t have kids for selfish reasons, I can tell you that having kids for investment reasons brings little financial return for the effort involved. But in saying that they give you a different view of the world that cash can’t buy. I wouldn’t like to think that my kids would resent visiting me, I don’t mind seeing my mother and she loves to see me and my kids etc. It’s about society and relationships. The world would be a lot different if we were all like pandas seeing each other once a year.
@stupid *unt, if you ‘don’t mind’ seeing her, why doesn’t she live with you in a more caring family home than her Care Home where people are paid to be with her? Don’t you think she deserves this considering the sacrifices she made to raise you and the money it cost her?
I hope you live a long and happy life jack but wherever you go, you’ll most likely be part of a society somewhere and that means you’re on a shared journey with others so there are issues outside your immediate spectrum that still affect you. That’s all I’m ultimately saying. Good luck!
She’s disabled and can’t walk and requires 24 hour care that I couldn’t provide and my father’s dead. I’m not a doctor or trained as a nurse. Where she lives now provides these services.I know she’s being loooked after cos she tells me she’s happy and I can turn up unexpected and ive never seen anything wrong. So far so good, but it’s expensive. I’m not having a go at you, I hope your happy in your old age and you never know maybe we’ll end up playing dominoes together some day.
to be childfree is an acceptable option in life, many people in Ireland think that spawning is the only answers to life’s conundrums for the other people see attached:
http://thechildfreelife.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=14648
True it’s up to you, nobody’s going to force you to have kids, your mum I ghess wanted you and managed. But to say just suck it up kind of shuts the door to any kind of improvements for society. I ghess your mum had you in a maternity hospital, now child death expectancy has dropped a lot in the last one hundred years due to improvements, if the attitude had just been to suck it up we’d still be stuck in the dark ages. It’s perfectly fine to want to improve things,and as another commenter has pointed out in Sweden they pay a lot less, and no I won’t move to Sweden before you ask, maybe we should look at transferring the model here.
Fu@ktard jack
The price of child care in Germany IS 25 Euro per week per child.This means that the poor can also work or that employers can pay their employees less.
Because they pay their employees less they have more money for research and innovation .It means they can employ people in this area.
It also guarantees huge profits for the companies..
Companies such as Volkswagen who now outbid our banks – now that they are State -owned , in the car loan market.
High childcare costs means high labour costs –
Looks very bad when the german led Troika presented several budgets that attacked family incomes over single people’s incomes..
And most importantly, some plonkers like jack won’t reproduce which is best for the human race in the long run…
Kinda glad Jack is not procreating. It’s a win/win situation.
@stupid *unt the more I have to pay for your kids through my taxes the less I have for my childfree life @amused who knows I may have an accident someday, I’m sure you’ll be happy for us, if I do hopefully any accidents will be just in time for the Swedish-Irish childcare model @deborah some day we might cross paths at which point you might conceive my child if you’re lucky and I’m drunk!
Here in France we pay between €50-€150 per month per child. Can’t imagine how I could afford €1200! Seems absolutely crazy!
My wife is due our second child in 5 weeks. At the moment We will be over 150 euro a week better off with my wife looking after our 2 children than If we keep one of our kids in crèche. When my wife decides to go back to work we will down over 400 a week. No wonder so many people choose to stay at home. The system is not looking after parents who want to work
The fact is that when a couple have a third child it is economically better that the lesser earner stay at home to mind the children. Which means that only people of a certain socioeconomic status can afford childcare.
That ECCE scheme is nonsense. Sure what use is 3 hours for free when you work 9-5. Handy if you’re not working maybe.
Its aim is to subsidise preschool education, not to subsidise parents working.
And some socialisation and independence for young children, for a short time every day, makes the transition into primary school much easier.
Any solution to the childcare crisis must also address the low wages of workers in the industry and the appalling levels of exploitation of au pairs in Ireland.
I completely agree. As a childcare facility owner it pains me to pay my incredible staff such low rates. I also find it very hard to keep up our standards at our current fee rates and find my self in a position where I’ll have no choice but to increase fees which will make us unaffordable to many people who have no other options. The government force more and more regulations on the industry that increase our costs and offer little to no support. During the recent protest I found it such an important issue that I gave my staff paid leave to attend with the support of most of the parents
It really is a rock and a hard place. You need to work but get crippled paying crèche fees then you have those that say don’t have kids then but we’re in a world where both parents work now and still want families.
I’ve read about some Scandinavian countries where the population is going down leaving unsustaining ratios to carry the load which in turn leads to immigration. That’s why thay have more attractive policys for childcare. The western way is for both parents to work so as to be able to afford housing and food etc. We don’t all live in little villages where granny lives across the road.
I live in sweden and pay 95 euros for one child and 125 euros for two kids per month up to 7 which is when they start regular school here.I don’t post to be cocky just the utter shock at numbers like 600-1200euro and above.Obviously it’s very much subsidised by the Government but I, like the average worker here have never payed more than 32% tax.
Raymond, wow thanks for posting that, an eye opener all right. And are people generally happy with that. Has society collapsed as a result. Do playschools take advantage by jacking up their prices.
Three simple steps can help solve this: (1) Make creche fees tax deductible (up to say a max of €800/child), (2) cut child benefit off completely from a familys fourth child onwards (with the third child capped at €100/month) and (3) set caps on insurers on the premiums they charge creches and HEY PRESTO…. you’re already 75% towards solving this problem.
There are already tax breaks on childcare but they aren’t enough. The child benefit is a tough issue as it is unfair to punish people who have large families. As for the insurance it is a co-op insurance scheme but there needs to be a cap put on it as over the last 2 years it has increased.
There is a scheme but I’m not sure what it’s called, they are in community crèches and for people who are unemployed they charge very little maybe €10 per day, for those who are working it goes up to maybe €20 a day. My question is those who are not working why are they getting cheaper childcare unless they can prove they are actively looking for work whilst the child is in care and they should be charged at the higher end. Those working should be charged the least.
The “parenting industry” surely the “childcare industry”?!
Ask yourself why it’s being referred to as the parenting industry. The possible answers aren’t pretty.
My daughter got a degree in Ecce .in Tralee about 4yrs ago her year was the 1st to take the course .promised that work would be plentyful .
What a waste if time that turned out .nothing came off it .Can gi to vetec get level 4 and be same as a degree .
Only goid thing that came if it was getting a place in university in uk .doing a masters in Social work .
So basicly saying the staff in these places earn peanuts
I needed to give up a good job that paid well when I had my child because the best part of my wages would’ve gone on full time creche fees . I didn’t much choice and don’t think it’s right that you should have to do that .
Sorry about some misspellings .had no glasses on at the time
Just some UK perspective for anyone that’s interested. I have one daughter in full time nursery. Costs us £771 a month. There is help available however, IF your employer is on the scheme and thats in the form of Childcare Vouchers. Basically my wife sacrifices the maximum amount of £243 a month out of her gross pay, then she gets taxed normally. This saves us roughly £65 a month. My new employer doesn’t offer the scheme so I lose out on sacrificing my £243 which is ridiculous really. That benefit is available to me but I’ve no way of accessing it. The Tories are bringing in Tax Free Childcare in August apparently which means they’ll pay 20% of your childcare costs over the year. 3 year olds get 15hrs free per week over term time so that’s another saving. They want to increase this to 20hrs. Schemes like this though in Ireland would help I think if they can fund it. People should be helped out if they’re working and paying tax.
Childcare in Ireland is already tax free. There is no support scheme for parents in employment which would be a massive help if there was. The ECCE scheme here is the same as the 15hrs free as the UK which the department has been working to increase to 2 years but there is a lack of funding but also needs to be increased to 20 hrs to cover the staff hours for the paperwork that is involved
Why do so many people expect others to pay for their sprogs? Having kids is a choice which should be made due to a love for children. It is not a duty or a responsibility, or a job which people should be compensated for undertaking. I paid for my kids, and for my pension, and for my medical insurance. You pay for yours!
I think you’re missing the point.
Making childcare more affordable (e.g. by giving tax breaks) would allow parents to go back to work.
In turn, that parent pays more income tax, adds to society & has more spending money themselves – which also goes back into the economy.
It might even help keep some crèches open.
The ultimate goal here folks is to price people out of having children altogether. Population control people will not have children when their own existence itself is a massive financial burden. Of course the wealthiest have no worries it is they who decide the price .
Because they are shit
Good childcare costs money! If we want our government to pay for it we need to pay more tax or make cuts elsewhere – how about pensions? Or welfare for vulnerable people, or health services?…. Tax allowances for parents mean all taxpayers pick up the bill too. There isn’t a magic money tree so we need a proper debate on what sort of society we want and how much we’re all willing to pay for it. And yes I know that increasing subsidy for childcare might result in parents paying more tax but that isn’t going to cover the cost of their children’s care. How about being really radical and making child allowance means tested so that the money that would be handed to wealthy families now could be used to subsidise the costs for families on lower incomes. I’m sure I can’t be the only person who knows parents who strongly argue that they need the child benefits they get but who then find that they can afford foreign holidays. I’m sure to get loads of abuse for suggesting that some families could give up some of their child benefit but as I suggested at the beginning of this comment I think we need to have an open debate on what the state should provide and how much we want to spend
What is the bottom line here? What is the largest expense for a Creche owner? Besides wages I would imagine insurance would be a huge cost factor. Maybe the Govt should look at a route like providing Capitation fees to help with insurance, energy costs – or even negoiate with providers of those services for reductions that could be subsidised.
Largest creche expenditure = Salaries, Rent, Employers PRSI, Council Rates, light/heat, equipment, then insurance. They also cannot reclaim VAT on their expenditure and rent. The government get so much tax from Creches, its like taxing parents twice.
You are right duke on the list of costs but the reason childcare can’t reclaim vat on expenses is that it’s a vat exempt industry any income is untaxed except for profit but the only crèches I know that turn a profit are the large chains like park academy and giraffe which have been shown to offer poor service in many of there facilities
The liberal dream has turned into a nightmare
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