INDEPENDENT TD Mick Wallace is facing censure by his Dáil colleagues and a possible criminal prosecution over his admitted under-declaration of VAT payments by his construction firm.
Fellow members of the Dáil technical group last night joined in the condemnation of his €2.1 million settlement with the Revenue Commissioners, while Fine Gael and Labour TDs called on him to consider his position.
Mr Wallace faces up to five years’ imprisonment if prosecuted and convicted over his under-declaration of VAT over a two-year period. Revenue would take into account his admission that he is unable to pay the sum owed in deciding whether to pursue him through the courts. His co-operation would serve as a mitigating factor.
Meanwhile, arrangements are being made for an early meeting of the Dáil Committee on Procedures and Privileges, which is likely to consider a motion of censure or suspension from the Dáil over his behaviour.
Under the agreement with Revenue, MJ Wallace Ltd, which is 99 per cent owned by Mr Wallace, was found to have under-declared VAT by €1.418 million. With interest and penalties, the settlement came to €2.13 million. Mr Wallace last night rejected calls for his resignation from the Dáil. “That’s a matter for the people of Wexford. It’s not for other political parties or the media to call for my head,” he said. “If I thought the people of Wexford didn’t want me to represent them any more I would walk.”
While his tax issues had presented people a useful opportunity to give him “a good kicking”, he said he had been “showered” with messages of goodwill from his constituents.
Mr Wallace was heavily criticised at an emergency meeting of technical group members yesterday but his colleagues were initially reluctant to comment publicly on the issue.
However, in a sign of the rising pressure on the Wexford TD, nine members of the technical group outside the United Left Alliance, including Shane Ross and Finian McGrath, last night issued a statement critical of his behaviour.
“We do not condone his behaviour, we believe he has done wrong and that he should be equally accountable as any other TD or ordinary Irish citizen,” the group stated. However, members insisted there was no question mark over Mr Wallace’s membership of the group, saying anyone in the Dáil who was not aligned to a political party was automatically entitled to membership.
For the United Left Alliance, Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins insisted there were no issues for the group arising from Mr Wallace’s non-compliance on tax but said he should pay the money due from whatever resources he had. People before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett said Mr Wallace should be ordered to pay the money in instalments, as was the practice with people who owed social welfare money.
Mr Wallace pointed out that Revenue had categorised his behaviour as careless rather than deliberate. “I came forward, I told them the exact truth and they believed my story. People forget I put everything in place until ACC moved against me.”
He again stressed he didn’t have an expensive lifestyle. His apartment in Nice had been sold to pay debts and as much was owed on an apartment in Turin as it was worth. He travelled to Italy on tickets bought well in advance for €100.
“I have nothing, but that doesn’t bother me as long as I have my health.”
Mr Wallace, an ardent soccer fan, plans to travel today to Euro 2012 in Poland.
