Mick Wallace
Michael Wallace is an Irish politician, former property developer and former Member of the European Parliament from Ireland for the South constituency from 2019 to 2024. He is a member of Independents 4 Change, part of The Left in the European Parliament. He was a Teachta Dála for the Wexford constituency from 2011 to 2019.
Entering politics in 2011 following the post-2008 Irish economic downturn, Wallace was considered one of the most eccentric and unconventional figures in Irish politics. Wallace gained a reputation for anti-establishment and left-wing populist views, and became a frequent guest on the political debate show Tonight with Vincent Browne. In 2012, it emerged that during his time as a property developer, Wallace's company owed €2.1 million to the state in unpaid value-added taxes.
Since 2012, Wallace has had a close political association with Clare Daly. As an MEP, Wallace has gained international attention for his foreign policy positions, describing himself as fighting "anti-Russia" and "anti-China" rhetoric. His views have been the subject of controversy and criticism in Europe, but have been promoted by state-controlled media in Russia, China, Iran, Syria, and other authoritarian states.
Early and personal life
Wallace was born in Wellingtonbridge in County Wexford, Ireland, in 1955. The son of businessman Joseph Wallace and his wife Maureen, he was one of a family of 12 children. His father, a former Fianna Fáil member, was the head of a family that owned and operated several businesses in Wellingtonbridge. He graduated from University College Dublin with a degree in English, history and philosophy, and later obtained a teaching qualification. He married Mary Murphy from Duncormick, County Wexford, in 1979; the couple had two sons, but the marriage ended when the children were young. Wallace had two more children from another relationship in the 1990s.In 2007, Wallace founded the Wexford Football Club, which he managed for their first three seasons, and was chairman of its board. The club is in the League of Ireland First Division. He is also a supporter of Italian football club Torino.
Prior to entering politics, Wallace owned a property development and construction company completing developments such as The Italian Quarter in the Ormond Quay area of the Dublin quays. The company later collapsed into liquidation, with Wallace finally being declared bankrupt on 19 December 2016.
Early political career and election as TD (2011–2019)
Prior to entering politics, Wallace had expressed his political views publicly. In 2002, Dublin City Council took a case to the High Court to demand Wallace remove a banner saying "No to War. No to Nice. No to American Terrorism". The court ruled in Wallace's favour, allowing him to keep the banner. In 2003, the council forced Wallace to remove another banner opposing the Iraq War from one of his sites.On 5 February 2011, while a guest on Tonight with Vincent Browne, Wallace made the announcement that he intended to contest the upcoming general election on 25 February as an Independent candidate. Running on the slogan "For a New Politics", he topped the poll in the Wexford constituency with 13,329 votes and was elected on the first count. According to John Dwyer, who stood against him in that election, Wallace's tax affairs were "the talk of the pubs, all of these things were known. Because he was such a rebel, because he was prepared to stick the finger up at the authorities, he got elected."
Shortly after being elected, Wallace was caught by a microphone in Dáil Éireann saying "Miss Piggy has toned it down a bit today", referring to an outfit worn by Mary Mitchell O'Connor. After Mitchell O'Connor described the comments as "really hurtful" to her, he accepted responsibility and later apologised, saying "It was my fault. I passed the reference because of her handbag. I'm completely out of order. I don't have a leg to stand on Clearly it was in bad taste." He called Mitchell O'Connor to apologise and said he would write a letter of apology to her as well.
Wallace co-founded the Independents 4 Change, which was registered to stand for elections in March 2014.
During their time in the Dáil, Wallace and Dublin North TD Clare Daly became friends and political allies, and worked together on many campaigns, including opposition to austerity and highlighting revelations of alleged Garda malpractices, including harassment, improper cancellation of penalty points and involvement of officers in the drug trade. Wallace and Daly were partially active in protesting the Garda whistleblower scandal, which eventually caused the resignation of Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald, although she was later cleared of wrongdoing by the Charleton Tribunal.
In December 2015, Wallace and independent TDs Clare Daly and Maureen O'Sullivan each put forward offers of a €5,000 surety for a man charged with membership of an unlawful organisation and with possession of a component part of an improvised explosive device.
At the 2016 general election, Wallace stood as an Independents 4 Change candidate and was re-elected, finishing third on the first-preference count with 7,917 votes.
Political views during his time in the Dáil
Wallace has stated that the welfare of women working in prostitution would be improved if the trade were not pushed underground.He said he was "a bit flabbergasted" by the introduction of the household charge brought in as part of the 2012 Budget, and by how that party had changed from when it was in opposition. On 15 December 2011, he helped to launch a nationwide campaign against the household charge.
Wallace was criticised and accused of "defending terrorism" by Joan Burton, then Ireland's Tánaiste, for comments he made during the November 2015 Paris attacks. While the attacks were unfolding, Wallace posted on his Twitter account "So terrible for the victims, but when is France going to stop its role in the militarisation of the planet?", sparking an angry reaction on social media.
In 2017, Wallace called on Ireland to join the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel and "condemn the illegal expansion of Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands as well as the ongoing human rights abuses against Palestinians". Wallace proposed an "official boycott of goods from illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories".
Arrest at Shannon Airport
In July 2014, Wallace and Daly were arrested at Shannon Airport while trying to board a US military aircraft. Wallace said the airport was being used as a US military base and that the government should be searching the planes to ensure that they are not involved in military operations or that there are no weapons on board. Wallace was fined €2,000 for being in an airside area without permission, and chose not to pay. He was sentenced to 30 days in prison in default, and in December 2015 was arrested for non-payment of the fine. Joan Burton accused Wallace of "putting Irish people at risk" of terrorism by repeatedly linking Shannon Airport to US-led wars "simply for the sake of some media coverage".Member of the European Parliament (2019–2024)
At the 2019 European Parliament election, he was elected as an MEP for the South constituency, receiving 81,780 of first-preference votes.Mick Wallace has been criticised for supporting Russia, Belarus, China, Syria, Venezuela and Ecuador during his period as an MEP. In November 2020, Wallace referred to Belarusian opposition presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya as a "pawn of western neoliberalism". In February 2021, Wallace was reprimanded for using a swear word during a session of the European Parliament, when he called Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó an "unelected gobshite". In September 2022, he was one of 19 MEPs who voted against condemning Nicaragua for the arrest of Rolando Álvarez.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Wallace opposed vaccination passports. He has said "I’m not anti-vax but we're going down a dangerous path with Covid pass" and expressed concerns about civil liberties. Both Wallace and Daly have refused to present vaccination certs upon entering the European Parliament, resulting in them being reprimanded.
In November 2022, Wallace criticised protests in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, accusing some protestors of violence and destruction and saying it "would not be tolerated anywhere".
In a speech at the European parliament, Wallace criticised the EU for failing to adequately investigate the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipeline. He referred to Seymour Hersh's conclusion that US navy divers blew up the pipeline and said "has the EU become so subservient, to US empire that yous can’t even ask them if they did it? Yous are a fucking joke".
In the 2024 European Parliament elections, Wallace and Daly were endorsed by actress Susan Sarandon, who said they were "speaking up loud and clear for international solidarity" and "There are very few voices for peace in places of power and we need them more than ever now, especially with what’s going on in Gaza". Wallace received 52,803 first preference votes but lost his seat. Clare Daly also lost her seat in the election.
Visit to Iraqi militia group
In April 2021, Wallace and Clare Daly were called "embarrassments to Ireland" by Fianna Fáil's Malcolm Byrne after the two MEPs travelled to Iraq and visited the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces, an Iraqi militia supported by Iran. Byrne criticised them for meeting with a group that supports the oppression of gay people and accused them of being used as propaganda by the militia. Footage of their visit was used in a promotional video by the Popular Mobilization Forces.Views on Syria
Wallace challenged the director general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Fernando Arias, in the European Parliament in April 2021. He accused the OPCW of falsely blaming the government of Bashar al-Assad for the 2018 Douma chemical attack. He suggested that the White Helmets may have staged the attack and alleged they were "paid for by the US and UK to carry out regime change in Syria". Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews called Wallace's accusation against the White Helmets a conspiracy theory and disinformation. French MEP Nathalie Loiseau described Wallace's comments as "fake news" and apologised on his behalf to NGO groups in Syria.In a European Parliament hearing in 2021, Wallace argued that Bashar Al-Assad had defended Syria from "genocidal extremists" and asked which of the policies of Assad or the United States were "more authoritarian".
Wallace has opposed sanctions against the Syrian government and was one of eight MEPs to put forward a motion to remove sanctions against the Syrian government.