Sinn Féin spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Director of Elections, Matt Carthy TD, has said that Social Democrats TD Eoin Hayes won his seat on false pretences and should resign.

Deputy Carthy made his comments after Eoin Hayes today gave false information about when he sold shares he held in a software firm that supplies technology to the Israeli Defence Forces.

Deputy Hayes today claimed he sold his Palantir shares before he entered politics, and has since been forced to issue a statement to clarify that this was not true.

He sold them a month after he was elected, and the value of his shares rose by nearly €100,000 since the Israeli bombardment of Gaza commenced in October of last year.

Teachta Carthy said:

“This is an incredibly serious matter. Had this information been in the public domain two weeks ago, it is my very firm belief that Eoin Hayes would not be a TD, and that Chris Andrews would have been re-elected.

“Eoin Hayes profited personally from a company that benefited from Israeli breaches of international law.

“He misled journalists today, and was not forthcoming in terms of the period of time in which he held these shares and the time in which he divested from those shares.

“He was therefore elected on false pretences, and I believe the honourable thing for him to do is to resign his seat.

“There are a number of political parties, Sinn Fein being one, and the Social Democrats being another, who have been very clear and unequivocal in terms of our position of those who profit through companies, shareholdings or otherwise from the occupation, annexation and genocide in Gaza.

“Voters will have taken it as a given that any Social Democrats candidate would have a similar disposition and would not have allowed themselves to be in a position where they held €200,000 worth of shares in a company that profited quite substantially from the Israeli attacks.

“I firmly believe that if the electorate of Dublin Bay South were aware of the information that we are aware of today that Eoin Hayes would not be a TD, and that Chris Andrews, somebody who has a long standing record in support of the people of Palestine as well as the people of Dublin, would be.”