1. Michael Wallace was born on 9 November 1955 and is an Irish politician, former property developer and former Member of the European Parliament from Ireland for the South constituency from 2019 to 2024.
69 Facts About Mick Wallace
1. 2.
Mick Wallace is a member of Independents 4 Change, part of The Left in the European Parliament.
3.
Mick Wallace was a Teachta Dala for the Wexford constituency from 2011 to 2019.
4.
Mick 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.
5.
Since 2012, Mick Wallace has had a close political association with Clare Daly.
6.
Mick Wallace's 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.
7.
Mick Wallace was born in Wellingtonbridge in County Wexford, Ireland in 1955.
8.
Mick Wallace graduated from University College Dublin with a degree in English, history and philosophy, and later obtained a teaching qualification.
9.
Mick Wallace married Mary Murphy from Duncormick, County Wexford in 1979; the couple had two sons, but the marriage ended when the children were young.
10.
Mick Wallace had two more children from another relationship in the 1990s.
11.
In 2007, Mick Wallace founded the Wexford Football Club which he managed for their first three seasons, and was chairman of its board.
12.
Mick Wallace is a supporter of Italian football club Torino.
13.
Mick Wallace later collapsed into liquidation, with Wallace finally being declared bankrupt on 19 December 2016.
14.
The court ruled in Mick Wallace's favour, allowing him to keep the banner.
15.
In 2003, the council forced Mick Wallace to remove another banner opposing the Iraq War from one of his sites.
16.
On 5 February 2011, while a guest on Tonight with Vincent Browne, Mick Wallace made the announcement that he intended to contest the upcoming general election on 25 February as an Independent candidate.
17.
Shortly after being elected, Mick Wallace was caught by a microphone in Dail Eireann saying "Miss Piggy has toned it down a bit today", referring to an outfit worn by Mary Mitchell O'Connor.
18.
Mick Wallace co-founded the Independents 4 Change, which was registered to stand for elections in March 2014.
19.
At the 2016 general election, Mick Wallace stood as an Independents 4 Change candidate and was re-elected, finishing third on the first-preference count with 7,917 votes.
20.
Mick Wallace has stated that the welfare of women working in prostitution would be improved if the trade were not pushed underground.
21.
Mick Wallace 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.
22.
Mick Wallace was criticised and accused of "defending terrorism" by Joan Burton, then Ireland's Tanaiste, for comments he made during the November 2015 Paris attacks.
23.
In 2017, Mick 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".
24.
Mick Wallace proposed an "official boycott of goods from illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories".
25.
Mick 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.
26.
Mick Wallace was sentenced to 30 days in prison in default, and in December 2015 was arrested for non-payment of the fine.
27.
Joan Burton accused Mick 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".
28.
Mick Wallace has been criticised for supporting Russia, Belarus, China, Syria, Venezuela and Ecuador during his period as an MEP.
29.
In November 2020, Mick Wallace referred to Belarusian opposition presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya as a "pawn of western neoliberalism".
30.
In February 2021, Mick Wallace was reprimanded for using a swear word during a session of the European Parliament, when he called Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido an "unelected gobshite".
31.
Mick Wallace has said "I'm not anti-vax but we're going down a dangerous path with Covid pass" and expressed concerns about civil liberties.
32.
Mick Wallace received 52,803 first preference votes but lost his seat.
33.
Mick Wallace challenged the director general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Fernando Arias, in the European Parliament in April 2021.
34.
Mick Wallace accused the OPCW of falsely blaming the government of Bashar al-Assad for the 2018 Douma chemical attack.
35.
Mick 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.
36.
Mick Wallace has consistently voted against resolutions critical of Vladimir Putin's Russia.
37.
Mick Wallace tabled amendments on behalf of the Left, seeking to "water down" resolutions against Russia.
38.
Mick Wallace sought to remove a statement that a Dutch-led investigation found that Russia's military supplied the missile which downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, killing 298 civilians.
39.
In January 2022, Mick Wallace described the Russian military buildup on Ukraine's border as being "clearly defensive" in reaction to NATO.
40.
Mick Wallace called for NATO to be abolished, alleging that it wanted a war and saying "it has nothing good to offer anyone that prefers peace".
41.
In March 2022, Mick Wallace was one of 13 MEPs who voted against a European Parliament resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
42.
Mick Wallace said there must be acceptance of Russia's "genuine security concerns" about the idea of Ukraine joining NATO.
43.
Mick Wallace has opposed broad sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
44.
Mick Wallace voted against a resolution to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, and voted against establishing a tribunal to investigate the Russian leadership for crimes of aggression against Ukraine.
45.
Several months into the Russian invasion, Mick Wallace accused the EU and the governing parties in Ireland of "promoting" and "loving" the war in Ukraine.
46.
Mick Wallace rejected claims that he supports Vladimir Putin, saying "he stole the election last year from the Communists, who I'd have liked to have seen winning it".
47.
In November 2021, Mick Wallace and Daly travelled to Lithuania to support Algirdas Paleckis, a politician found guilty of spying for Russia.
48.
Mick Wallace said that Paleckis was "accused of being a Russian spy because he expressed an opinion that the State didn't like" and that the conviction was "authoritarianism".
49.
Mick Wallace has said he has "a lot of respect" for China, saying they have a "much more healthy state involvement in the organisation of society".
50.
Fine Gael Teachta Dala Neale Richmond criticised his comments and questioned why Mick Wallace was "lionizing China, Russia, Belarus, Syria".
51.
In July 2021, Mick Wallace said that reports of one million Uighurs being detained in Chinese internment camps were "grossly exaggerated".
52.
Mick Wallace criticised what he saw as "anti-Chinese rhetoric" in the European Parliament and Irish media.
53.
In October 2021, Mick Wallace posted a video on social media in which he said there was "never any solid evidence" of Uighur mass detention camps.
54.
Mick Wallace's video was afterwards broadcast on Chinese state media, prompting the government of Taiwan to give an official rebuke of his claims.
55.
Mick Wallace's comments prompted other Irish politicians to speak out against him.
56.
Fine Gael Senator Jerry Buttimer called on Mick Wallace to speak to Taiwanese groups in Ireland and to respect the right of "democratic self-determination".
57.
Two weeks after losing his seat in the European Parliament, Mick Wallace was bereaved by the death of his son Joe Mick Wallace in June 2024.
58.
In November 2024, Mick Wallace announced that he would run in Wexford at the 2024 general election.
59.
Mick Wallace was unsuccessful in returning to the Dail, having polled 1,615 first-preferences, and was eliminated on the eighth count.
60.
In March 2025, Mick Wallace attended a conference in Sanaa, Yemen, hosted by the Houthis, Shia Islamist movement in Yemen, where he praised them for fighting against Israel's alleged genocide in Gaza.
61.
Mick Wallace said that Houthi-controlled Yemen was "one of the few countries adhering to international law".
62.
In May 2011, Mick Wallace said that he would face personal financial ruin and the possible loss of his Dail seat, if banks were to chase him for personal guarantees he had given them.
63.
In 2011, Mick Wallace pleaded guilty to five charges of withholding his employees' pension contributions in a case taken by the Irish Pensions Board.
64.
Mick Wallace said the case had arisen as a result of a "discrepancy" and that he had paid all of the money due.
65.
In June 2012, The Irish Times reported that Mick Wallace had made a seven-figure settlement with the Revenue Commissioners for under-payment of VAT.
66.
Mick Wallace admitted in the course of the article that he had knowingly made false declarations to the authorities.
67.
Later the same month, Finian McGrath resigned as chairman of the Dail technical group when Mick Wallace returned to the loose alliance against the wishes of many of its members.
68.
Mick Wallace disagreed with the appointment of Callinan's successor Noirin O'Sullivan, citing her previous role as deputy commissioner to Callinan.
69.
In February 2023 Mick Wallace claimed on social media that he had "three wine bars in Dublin".