Ireland: TD Clare Daly's statement on the United Left Alliance

[Die Neue Zeit]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0901/breaking30.html



I can confirm that yesterday I resigned from the Socialist Party and redesignate myself as a United Left Alliance (ULA) TD. I believe it is time to prioritise the building of the ULA. The success of the Household Tax Campaign and the prospect of an intensification of vicious attacks on working people in the next budget makes the building of an alternative political force, that can present a real challenge to the establishment parties, an urgent priority”

Unfortunately the potential of the ULA has not been fully realised and it is now time that the component organisations prioritised the building of the ULA.

I note with some regret the inaccurate content of the Socialist Party statement issued today. I have no intention of engaging in a public war of words with the Socialist Party leadership. I am proud of my record as a Socialist Party activist and public representative, as a shop steward representing Aer Lingus workers and a campaigner with people across Dublin North and beyond.

I will continue with the same intensity and passion to represent and fight on behalf of working people inside and out of the Dail. I will be judged on my record over twenty five years and my future record.

I have the highest of regard for the members of the Socialist Party especially those past and present who worked tirelessly with me on numerous campaigns over the last 25 years. I hope to maintain good working relations with Socialist Party members and look forward to working together as ULA members.

I will be working closely with those who have made a priority of building the ULA and offer my support and assistance to branches and members in developing the ULA nationally. I hope to see a large number of ULA candidates running in the local elections.

I will also continue to support all those fighting austerity. A real movement of people power needs to be built to stop the wave of attacks on ordinary working people.

[crazyirish93]

To give some further background to this Clare Daly got into hot water with the socialist party's leadership over her support of a fellow TD Mick Wallace who is a businessman and property developer who underpaid VAT to the revenue office and she herself had also been accused of misusing travel expenses for the household charge campaign.

[Prometeo liberado]

Not being very familiar with this situation please forgive me if this question seems stupid, but is this a case of resigning before being pushed out? And second, is not the Socialist Party a member of the Alliance? A bit confused, thanks.

[Aurora]

Heard about this today it's a real shame for someone so competent to fail to oppose a liberal capitalist tax-dodger.

The SP article says there had been discussion with Clare Daly for months prior to her resignation, was this ongoing discussion brought up in branch? I'd be curious to know

Imho it looks like the pretty common shift to the right that can happen to elected representatives in bourgeois democracies which is always a danger. It reminds me of the split in RS/CWI in Umea Sweden where the councillors shifted right and split the branch or the IMT Pakistan where their MP shifted right and split the section.

I wonder if there was any discussion about why it happened and how to prevent such splits in future in either CWI or IMT.


Here's the SP's response to her resignation and continued work in the ULA
http://www.socialistparty.net/component/content/article/3-newsflash/1030-clare-daly-resigns-from-the-socialist-party
http://www.socialistparty.net/component/content/article/3-newsflash/1034-statement-from-the-socialist-party-on-clare-dalys-involvement-in-the-ula

[crazyirish93]

Not being very familiar with this situation please forgive me if this question seems stupid, but is this a case of resigning before being pushed out? And second, is not the Socialist Party a member of the Alliance? A bit confused, thanks.
It does seem like she either decided to preempt being kicked out or she was tired of defending herself to the party leadership maybe a Socialist party member can enlighten us more ?.The socialist party is the main party of the ULA,the ULA itself is just a broad electoral alliance.

[Sam_b]

I wonder if there was any discussion about why it happened and how to prevent such splits in future in either CWI or IMT.



Can one person leaving really be regarded as a 'split' though?

[Jolly Red Giant]

Interesting that DNZ picks up on a rubbish statement that backs his usual political line.

Anyway –

The Socialist Party (CWI) issued an initial press statement on Saturday announcing that Clare Daly TD (member of parliament) resigned from the Socialist Party –

http://socialistparty.net/component/content/article/3-newsflash/1030-clare-daly-resigns-from-the-socialist-party

Clare Daly subsequently issued the statement DNZ quotes from above.

On Sunday the Socialist Party held a press conference to address some issues relating to her resignation –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOKAfX52Nww

And on Monday issued a clarifying statement in relation to the ULA

http://socialistparty.net/component/content/article/3-newsflash/1034-statement-from-the-socialist-party-on-clare-dalys-involvement-in-the-ula


Now it is necessary to give some background –
Following Clare Daly’s election to parliament she became friends with another member of parliament, Mick Wallace. Wallace is a wealthy property developer who ran up debts of close to €40million when his company collapsed. Wallace was known as a bit of a maverick – for example he unfurled a huge banner at one of his building sites in Dublin opposing the war in Iraq. Clare Daly’s friendship with Wallace was not an issue – her personal life is her own business. Mick Wallace subsequently was one of nine members of parliament that supported the mass non-payment of the Household Charge which has the support of more than half the population of the country.

On the 8 June 2012 the media broke a story that Mick Wallace had made a false declaration on his company’s tax returns using VAT he had received from purchasers of his property in an attempt to bail out his ailing company. He agreed a settlement with the revenue commissioners of €2.1million but then did not pay this money.

The Socialist Party condemned the tax evasion of Wallace and demanded he pay every penny of tax owed, but refused to call for his resignation from parliament on the basis that it was the right of those who elected him to decide his fate – not the right-wing media and the political establishment. Clare Daly supported this position.

However, subsequently Clare Daly began to offer political support to Wallace, including sitting next to him in parliament when he made a personal statement on his tax affairs in which he attempted to deflect criticism that demanded he pay the tax debt. As Wallace continued to refuse to release details of his agreement with the revenue commissioners, made no attempt to repay his tax debt and refused to cooperate with a parliamentary enquiry into his tax affairs, Clare Daly continued to give political support to Wallace. Clare Daly refused to sign Socialist Party statements demanding Wallace be transparent in his tax affairs, criticising him for his non-cooperation and refusing to pay his tax debt. Most importantly Wallace did not disclose to the people who elected him his tax affairs and what he intended to do to repay his debts from his considerable assets hidden behind company law.

In a series of private discussions between Clare Daly and the leadership of the Socialist Party, Clare Daly refused to withdraw her political support for this tax dodging multi-millionaire property developer. The issue was doing considerable political damage to Clare Daly, to the Socialist Party, to the ULA and to the Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes as the right-wing media were having a feeding frenzy attacking the ‘left’ over this tax dodger.

At no point during the discussions within the Socialist Party did Clare Daly speak one word or raise one issue in relation to the ULA, if anything she was dismissive of the ULA and its potential. However, once she resigned from the Socialist Party she floundered around trying to end her political isolation and all of a sudden she became determined to ‘build the ULA’.

The issue for the Socialist Party has been dealt with, Clare Daly is no longer a member – however, her continued political support for Mick Wallace is still very much a live issue for the ULA and, more importantly, for the Household Tax campaign. On Saturday, Clare Daly was in a tiny minority supporting Wallace at the National Steering Committee of the Household Tax Campaign when the Campaign effectively expelled Mick Wallace from the campaign.

As long as Clare Daly continues to give political support to this tax dodging multi-millionaire property developer then the ULA and the Campaign will be a target for attacks by the right-wing media and the political establishment. It is doing serious damage to the efforts to build an anti-austerity movement in Ireland and will continue to do so as there are undoubtedly more skeletons in Wallace’s property cupboard.

Last point – the Socialist Party has said all it feels it needs to say on this issue and has been rejecting all requests for interviews and statements from the media. The ULA will have to decide how it deals with the problem before too long.

P.S. - the issue of the travelling expenses is nonsense and was a bullsh*t media story whipped up in an attempt to attack the Socialist Party.

[Crux]

Can one person leaving really be regarded as a 'split' though?
This "split" is indeed only Clare. This is far more minor than the Umeå split. And in the years that has passed since then we have not only recovered but moved forward, politically and organizationally although admittedly we have yet to truely rebuild ourselves in Umeå itself. I have full faith that the irish organization will come through this without too much trouble. Especially since the SP branches in Dublin North are solidly with the SP.

I must say I find it astonishing that Clare Daly, even given her political trajectory of orienting to the Independent TD's, should resign over this issue. I know she denies it in public, but from the response I have seen from comments on her FB page and under the articles in mainstream media most people seem to have the same understanding of this as the SP. furthermore it should be kept in mind that the other ULA TD's, to my knowledge at least, called for Mick Wallace to resign, something the SP did not so it is unlikely she will find much support in the ULA for this.

[Die Neue Zeit]

Interesting that DNZ picks up on a rubbish statement that backs his usual political line.

Anyway –

[...]

P.S. - the issue of the travelling expenses is nonsense and was a bullsh*t media story whipped up in an attempt to attack the Socialist Party.

Well, at least we're in agreement on the travelling expenses would-be scandal.


Furthermore it should be kept in mind that the other ULA TD's, to my knowledge at least, called for Mick Wallace to resign, something the SP did not so it is unlikely she will find much support in the ULA for this.

It would be interesting to know how the ULA would fill in a seat vacated by Mick Wallace.

[Jolly Red Giant]

Well, at least we're in agreement on the travelling expenses would-be scandal.
You can dispute the rest all you want but you would be wrong



It would be interesting to know how the ULA would fill in a seat vacated by Mick Wallace.
This doesn't make sense - what role would the ULA have in anything like that. Wallace cannot be forced to resign. The only way a member of parliament can be forced to resign in Ireland is if they are declared personally bankrupt or if they spend more than six months in jail. Incidently the Socialist Party opposes both these conditions as they have been used in the past against left-wing representatives (Jim Larkin was forced to resign in 1927 as a result of a politically motivated bankruptcy) and they will be used against the left in the future.


furthermore it should be kept in mind that the other ULA TD's, to my knowledge at least, called for Mick Wallace to resign, something the SP did not so it is unlikely she will find much support in the ULA for this.
The positions of the other elements in the ULA on Clare Daly's political support for Wallace is a case of shifting sand. Already Joan Collins has significant softened her position towards Clare Daly and her association with Wallace and the SWP are capable of every kind of opportunistic turn.

Another front-page expose on Wallace today completely vindicated the approach of the Socialist Party far sooner than even I expected. Wallace was sprawled across the front page of a national newspaper because he has begun to claim allowances of €41,000 tax free that he previously had not claimed. There was a large photo of Wallace and 'his political ally' Clare Daly and the article also took a swipe at Clare Daly for attempting to wangle €41,000 a year out of the Socialist Party against the rules of the parliament.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/mick-wallace-tops-up-pay-with-41000-dail-perk-3221621.html?start=2

The political damage being done by what can only be described as the stupidity of Clare Daly to the left in Ireland is ongoing and will continue as long as she continues her political support for this tax dodging multi-millionaire property developer. The continued antics of Clare Daly and the political opportunism of other elements within the ULA have the potential to tear the ULA asunder. The Socialist Party will fight tooth-and-nail to prevent that from happening.

[Jolly Red Giant]

This is the type of nonsense a socialist member of parliament is faced with when they make the stupid mistake of being a 'political ally' of a tax dodging multi-millionaire property developer - from the front page of this weeks edition of the Phoenix magazine (a very popular national satirical magazine in Ireland) -

http://www.thephoenix.ie/phoenix/subscriber/library/volume-30/issue-18/cover-image.jpg;jsessionid=6EA6902F383CC5CD3C4EDFBC10384 B33

[Q]

I've seen one side of the story and I think it is sad that Clare Daly doesn't want to engage with that side by giving her side.

If she is serious about strengthening the ULA then I'll commend that as I think a united party is needed as opposed to a coalition that only seems to exist in parliament. But I would like to know more about this TD Mick Wallace story from her side. Is there any article about that?

[Crux]

I've seen one side of the story and I think it is sad that Clare Daly doesn't want to engage with that side by giving her side.

If she is serious about strengthening the ULA then I'll commend that as I think a united party is needed as opposed to a coalition that only seems to exist in parliament. But I would like to know more about this TD Mick Wallace story from her side. Is there any article about that?
No, as she insist that is not the issue when it quite transparently is. How you think Daly leaving the SP will strengthen the ULA is beyond me, Q.

[Jolly Red Giant]

No, as she insist that is not the issue when it quite transparently is. How you think Daly leaving the SP will strengthen the ULA is beyond me, Q.
It won't - and as I said before - as long as she continues to politically support Wallace she will continue to damage the ULA (there Sunday papers have more articles about the two of them today). Eventually the ULA will have to address things the same as the Socialist Party had to address the issue. Other elements in the ULA are hoping that the political connections between Clare Daly and Wallace will disappear from the media and we can all forget that it happened. But this won't happen. The Irish working class are locked in a class war with the Irish ruling establishment and the media will bring out the Daly/Wallace connection everytime the focus returns to the class war.

In the next few weeks the government will attempt to bring some of the 600,000-700,000 families boycotting the household charge to court. I guarantee you that some other scandal involving Wallace will appear on the front pages of the media the day the court cases are due to start - and sprawled across the front page will be a photo of Wallace and his 'political ally', the ULA TD opposing the houshold tax. Given Wallace's antics up to now you can be sure there are more skeletons in the cupboard.

[Jolly Red Giant]

Clare Daly is trying to distributed a leaflet around Swords in North Dublin accusing the Socialist Party of engaging in a smear campaign against her and a piece from Joan Collins that they are BFFs - despite the fact that they were on opposite sides of a political dispute in the Socialist Party ten years ago and (to the best of my knowledge) never spoke to one another until both got elected to the Dail last year.

[Jolly Red Giant]

Big surprise today - :rolleyes: - the SWP in Ireland issue a statement welcoming Clare Daly's conversion to the ULA with open arms.

You have to love the ability of the SWP to engage in twists and turns.

[Q]

Clare Daly is trying to distributed a leaflet around Swords in North Dublin accusing the Socialist Party of engaging in a smear campaign against her and a piece from Joan Collins that they are BFFs - despite the fact that they were on opposite sides of a political dispute in the Socialist Party ten years ago and (to the best of my knowledge) never spoke to one another until both got elected to the Dail last year.

Could you post a photo of said leaflet? I find that interesting because a few days ago I sent a direct email to her asking for her side of the story. While the answer was very interesting in my opinion, I was explicitly asked not to publish it as she didn't want to damage the SP.

Your post suggests she is at least two-faced about it.

[Jolly Red Giant]

Could you post a photo of said leaflet? I find that interesting because a few days ago I sent a direct email to her asking for her side of the story. While the answer was very interesting in my opinion, I was explicitly asked not to publish it as she didn't want to damage the SP.

Your post suggests she is at least two-faced about it.
The newsletter was on her website but doesn't appear to be loading at the moment - On page 4 of the newsletter in an article entitled 'A Fresh Start and the Fight Against Austerity Must Continue' she states in the opening paragraph -

Thanks to all my constituents, friends and colleagues who took time to send messages of support during the vicious smear campaign following my resignation from the Socialist Party.

Less there be any doubt this had nothing to do with any support for Mick Wallace's company under declaration of VAT....

You may have picked up on the effort by Clare Daly in this article to try and imply that it was not Mick Wallace that under declared the VAT, but his company. However, in a statement in parliament, Wallace admitted that he himself made the decision to falsify his company's VAT return and under declare by €1.4million VAT he had collected from working class families for property he sold to them.

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

I don't get it, why would a "socialist" side with a bourgeois tax dodger? Or is there something else to this story?

[pastradamus]

I don't get it, why would a "socialist" side with a bourgeois tax dodger? Or is there something else to this story?

To put things in a nutshell for everyone here who is having difficulty to understand.

MICK WALLACE

Mick Wallace is an independant politican. He used to run a construction firm until it went bankrupt. The construction firm left a huge tax bill for the public at €1.4m. Wallace has refused to pay it. Wallace was elected from the Wexford constituancy to sit in an Dáil Eireann (the Irish house of parliment). Now, Independants and Socialists and other small parties traditionally band together and form a "technical group" which allows the members extra speaking time. This IS NOT a political alliance, simply an arrangement for extra speaking time.

So, Mick Wallace sits in the same section of the parliment with other Independants and Socialists.

CLARE DALY

Clare Daly is a relatively long servant of the Socialist party. She was elected into office in North Dublin's constituancy. She has been a very active campaigner on behalf of women, workers ect ect.

WALLACE/DALY RELATIONSHIP

Clare Daly and Mick Wallace developed a personal relationship as they had both been opponents of the Household tax/ property levy being introduced by the government. The Socialist Party wanted to exclude Wallace from the anti-Household tax campaign as they found it hypocritical that a man owing €1.4m to the state tell working people not to pay. When asked for her signature calling for a resignation of Wallace, Daly refused and instead withdrew from the Socialist Party. She then accused the Socialist party of all sorts of different nonsense. She also wanted her salary (the SP only take the average industrial wage and not the full approx €80k salary they are entitled to) back in full, which the SP do not have.

THE UNITED LEFT ALLIANCE (ULA)

The ULA is an Electoral alliance between 3 groups:
THE SOCIALIST PARTY
PEOPLE BEFORE PROFIT
THE WORKERS AND UNEMPLOYED ACTION GROUP

It is not a party in its own right but just and agreement between the three groups in order to increase the amount of seats in the Dail and also to co-ordinate efforts against the government, ie Household tax and Water charges.

[pastradamus]

Big surprise today - :rolleyes: - the SWP in Ireland issue a statement welcoming Clare Daly's conversion to the ULA with open arms.

You have to love the ability of the SWP to engage in twists and turns.

I really want to get Daly, the SP, the SWP into a large sack that I can beat with a stick. Im absolutely sick to death of the nit picking that comes with these groups. I would be an SP supporter myself but I just find Daly and the SWP's immaturity on this whole thing to be ridiculous as they all belong to the ULA. I dont understand why she couldn't go gracefully and let that wanker Mick Wallace get into her head. If she wanted a relationship with a man then she shouldn't have catered to his ego enough to allow her political views to change in line with his.

[Jolly Red Giant]

She also wanted her salary (the SP only take the average industrial wage and not the full approx €80k salary they are entitled to) back in full, which the SP do not have.
Just to correct one small error - Clare Daly did not ask for the return of her salary above the AIW - under Irish law an individual is only allowed donate a maximum of approx €6350 per year to a political party. Socialist Party public represenatives donate approx. €500 every month to the party. The rest of the money is donated to political, community and industrial campaigns etc.

The money Clare Daly demanded was €41,000 of the parliamentray party allowance of €126,000 that the Socialist Party is entitled to under Dail procedures. €41K is the amount an independent member receives as a parliamentary allowance. The Socialist Party, even if it wanted to, legally could not give this money to Clare Daly - parliamentary rules prohibit it. Parliamentary allowances are based on political designation at the time of election. The Socialist Party has written to the Dept of Finance requesting that they only provide the SP with the funding based on having one parliamentary representative. Unfortunately Clare Daly's resignation could lead to four workers working in Clare Daly's parliamentary office being made redundant. The Socialist Party will attempt to raise sufficient funds to maintain their employment but Clare Daly will probably hire her own office staff.

There is a further issue - while the spending parliamentary allowances to political parties are strictly controlled - parliamentary allowances to independent members are not controlled, no receipts have to be furnished and can be spent on anything including being put straight into the parliamentary member's pocket.

Following his election in 2011 Mick Wallace never claimed his parliamentary allowance. Last week after offering to use half of his wages to pay a proportion of his tax dodge bill (it would take about 60 years to pay it off), he decided to claim his parliamentary allowance of €41K. He will now end up with more money than before and what's more he received over €62,000 in a back payment to the date he was elected.

This is an example of how the media is using Mick Wallace's tax dodging exploits to attack the ULA and the left in general -

http://ireland.backpage.com/GeneralCommunity/disgraced-property-developer-mick-wallace-and-the-united-left-alliance/2269138