| Mick Wallace TD | |
|---|---|
| Teachta Dála | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office February 2011 |
|
| Constituency | Wexford |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 November 1955 [1] |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political party | Independent |
| Alma mater | University College Dublin |
| Website | mickwallace.net |
Mick Wallace (born 9 November 1955) is an Irish independent politician,[2] property developer and former football manager.
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He was born in Wellingtonbridge, Wexford. Wallace holds a policy of recruiting only County Wexford based players and has invested much money in the Youth's playing facilities at Ferrycarrig Park.[3]
Wallace graduated from University College Dublin with a degree in English, History and Philosophy. He obtained a teaching degree in 1983 but went into the construction industry shortly afterwards and eventually progressed to the civil engineering end of the game, concentrating mostly on work in Dublin for the City Council. At a later stage, the company progressed to carrying out their own development work and well-known projects including the Italian Quarter on Ormond Quay. His company has also extended into the food and wine industry with a number of Italian wine bar restaurants, importing food and wine from Italy and growing some of their own wine in Piemonte, all trading under the name of Wallace Calcio Ltd.
He is a former manager of League of Ireland side Wexford Youths Football Club having earlier been manager of Wexford's underage sides prior to their entry to the league in 2007.[1][4]
On 5 February 2011, while a guest on political programme Tonight with Vincent Browne, Wallace made the surprise announcement that he intended to contest the next general election to be held on 25 February as an independent candidate. He won a seat at the 2011 general election, topping the poll in the Wexford constituency with 13,329 votes.[5]
He often wears pink shirts which brought him to immediate public attention.[6]
In May 2011, Wallace said that he faced personal financial ruin and possibly the loss of his Dáil seat, if banks were to chase him for personal guarantees following the appointment of receivers to his assets. Wallace properties includes much of the Italian Quarter in Dublin's city centre and the Ferrycarrig Sports Complex in his native Wexford, home to Wallace's Wexford Youths soccer team.[7][8]
Two months later, referring to Mary Mitchell O'Connor, he said “Miss Piggy has toned it down a bit today" but later apolgised saying “It’s hard to defend the indefensible. I'm very sorry for the offence caused to Mary Mitchell O'Connor. I'm completely out of order.”[9]
On 10 October 2011, the Commercial Court ordered Wallace to repay more than €19 million owed to ACCBank.[10][11] He said he did not have the money.[12][13][14]
He said he was "a bit flabbergasted" by Fine Gael's household charge brought in as part of the 2012 Irish budget, and how the party had changed from when it was in opposition.[15] On 15 December 2011, he helped launch a nationwide campaign against the household charge.[16]
| Oireachtas | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Seán Connick (Fianna Fáil) |
Independent Teachta Dála for Wexford 2011–present |
Incumbent |