PA Reporters
A newly-elected TD has been suspended from the Social Democrats parliamentary party after revealing he sold shares in a US software company which supplies technology to the Israeli military a month after he was elected as a councillor.
It comes after Social Democrats TD Eoin Hayes confirmed that he sold shares from his former employer, Palantir Technologies, in July for a pre-tax figure of €199,000.
He sold the shares a month after he was elected to Dublin City Council.
Mr Hayes faced questions over his divestment of shares in the company and had initially refused to confirm when he sold the shares, saying he divested them before he was elected to local politics in June.
But in a statement Mr Hayes apologised and admitted he gave incorrect information when repeatedly asked about his share profits on Tuesday morning.
Public records state that he signed his declaration of interests for Dublin City Council on June 26th, when he said he had divested all Palantir shares in the last year.
The Social Democrats representative went on to win a Dail seat in Dublin Bay South.
Mr Hayes was given shares in the company, which supplies technology to Israel to assist in its war in Gaza, when he worked for the firm between 2015 and 2017.
“In the interests of full transparency I want to provide all of the details surrounding my previous employment with software company Palantir,” Mr Hayes said in a statement.
“I worked for Palantir between 2015 and 2017 in internal operations, in areas like HR and IT, when I lived in the United States.
“I had absolutely no role in anything related to any military contracts – for the Israeli military or anyone else.
“As part of my salary package I was provided with shares. The conditions attaching to those shares meant I was unable to sell them until 2021 – six months after the company had gone public.
“Throughout the course of the past year, Palantir’s support for the Israeli military has markedly increased. In January, the company signed a new strategic partnership with the Israeli defence ministry. I should have sold my shares then and I deeply regret that I did not.
“I had 7,000 shares in the company, all of which dated from my employment nearly a decade ago, and sold them in July 2024 for a pre-tax figure of 199,000 euro.
“Earlier today, during a press conference, I stated I had sold the shares before I entered politics. This was not true. It was a month after I was first elected.
“I unreservedly apologise for providing incorrect information and I am now correcting the record.”
Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan said in a 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.”
Earlier on Tuesday morning, Mr Hayes claimed he sold the shares after he became “greatly concerned” about the company’s relationship with the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).
It was reported in January that the data analytics firm, which provides militaries with artificial intelligence models, agreed to a partnership with the IDF to supply it technology in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
The firm’s artificial intelligence software and intelligence system is used to identify “targets”.
Shares in Palantir increased from $16.63 (€15.83) on October 7th, the day of the Hamas attacks, to $28.58 dollars (€27.20) by the end of July this year.
Mr Hayes, 37, when asked on Tuesday when he sold his shares in the company, said: “A company I worked for briefly eight years ago, there were shares granted as part of my compensation package then. I have divested completely from those shares.”
Asked to clarify when he sold the shares, he said: “I completely divested from them in last 12 months.”
Asked again to confirm when he sold the shares, Mr Hayes said it was this year before he entered politics.
“It was very clear that I had worked at the company. There were shares given to me as part of that compensation package. As soon as I became aware that Israel had very close relationships with that company, I divested those shares,” he said.
Asked if he was embarrassed to keep shares at a time when the company was “aiding the Israeli forces”, he said: “I divested from the shares entirely as soon as Palantir made very vocal support of (them).
“I worked for a company eight years ago. There are tens of thousands of people in this country that work for multinationals that don’t agree necessarily with their bosses all the time.
“Elon Musk and X is a good example. A lot of people work for X in this country, so I think it’s reasonable that I didn’t want to be associated with those shares.”
He had previously refused to confirm how many shares he had in the company and how much he profited from their sale.
The Social Democrats have continually condemned the war in Gaza.
Mr Hayes added: “The only reason you know about the shares is because I was transparent about them, and I made them in those ethics declarations, right?
“So I’ve been fully transparent. And on top of that, I’ve been fully supportive of the party’s position on Gaza and on Israel.”
He added that he has “no shareholding” in the company and that he “fully divested” from the shares by June 7th.
Asked if he will donate any of the share profits to any Palestinian causes, Mr Hayes said: “I’ve divested the shares entirely, and I’m not getting into the specifics.
“I was greatly concerned with the company’s relationship with the IDF, that it made very clear earlier this year, and that’s why I divested.
“The company made very vocal messages over the last year about its relationship with Israel and the IDF and I divested from the shares at that point.”
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said the revelation was “disgraceful”, and “direct profiteering from genocide”.
“If I was (in) the Social Democrats, I would be very, very, very concerned about that, because that flies in the face of what they stood in front of the electorate, on their platform in relation to Palestine,” the Dun Laoghaire TD said.
“Profiteering from a genocide is quite shocking, to be honest.
“No such person would be a member of People Before Profit-Solidarity, I can tell you that.
“If he was a member of People Before Profit-Solidarity, he’d be expelled.”
His party colleague Paul Murphy called on Mr Hayes to make a statement in the Dáil next week about the issue.
“I also think he needs to answer questions to the media again. The idea that he comes out here, refuses to answer, then sends out a written statement and hopes to just move on is very, very poor behaviour.”
