A newly elected TD has refused to confirm when he sold shares he received from his former employer, Palantir Technologies, a US company which supplies technology to the Israeli military.
Social Democrats TD Eoin Hayes won a Dail seat in Dublin Bay South.
He refused to confirm when in the last year he divested himself fully of the shares in the company, which supplies technology to Israel to assist in their war in Gaza, despite repeated questions from the press.
Eoin Hayes (middle) with Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan and Dublin Central TD Gary Gannon at Leinster House in Tuesday (Cate McCurry/PA)
Mr Hayes worked for the firm, of which the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) is a major client, between 2015 and 2017.
During a press conference with the re-elected and newly elected Social Democrats TDs, Mr Hayes said he was given shares as part of his compensation package.
Mr Hayes said he sold the shares after he became “greatly concerned” about the company’s relationship with the IDF, but would not confirm when he sold them or when he became concerned about the relationship.
It was reported in January this year that the data analytics firm, which provides militaries with artificial intelligence models, agreed to a partnership with the IDF to supply them technology in their 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 dollars (15.72 euro) on October 7, on the day of the Hamas attacks, to 23.31 dollars (21.59 euro) on June 7 this year.
Mr Hayes, 37, was elected as a Dublin City councillor for the Kimmage-Rathmines electoral area in June and won a seat in the recent general election.
Asked on Tuesday when he sold his shares in the company, Mr Hayes 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.”
Mr Hayes said he included details about his divestment as part of TDs’ ethics disclosure obligations, as legally required under the Ethics in Public Office Act.
He told reporters that he wanted to “abide by all ethics”.
Asked to confirm when he sold the shares, Mr Hayes said it was this year.
“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 also 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 7.
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.
“I’m being honest with people. The only reason that anybody knows about these shares is because I was fully transparent about it in the ethics declaration.”
Deputy leader of the Social Democrats, Cian O’Callaghan, said: “Eoin has been very clear, and we’re all very clear, that we support the people of Gaza, and what we want, in relation to Gaza, is we want collective action by the Irish state and want sanctions to be introduced.”