Mick Wallace confirms European re-election bid after submitting nomination forms on deadline day

While it had been clear for some time that Wexford MEP Mick Wallace would be seeking re-election to the European Parliament on June 7, there was maybe an element of trademark showmanship as he waited until the deadline day to officially submit his nomination form.

Often controversial, the Wellingtonbridge native has represented the people of Ireland South in Europe since 2019 and he’s hopeful of securing another five years as he handed the required forms to the Cork City Returning Officer on Tuesday.

Since his election to Europe, Mr Wallace has served as a member of the parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Subcommittee on Security and Defence, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, and the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.

Having submitted his papers just ahead of the deadline, the Wexford man was looking forward to hitting the road across the vast Ireland South constituency, which takes in Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, Waterford, Carlow, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Wexford and Wicklow.

“I’m pleased to have the papers submitted and I’m looking forward to the campaign,” he said.

“Ireland South is a massive and really diverse constituency. It has some amazing places and great people. I’m a very social person and I love meeting people and having a chat and discussing the issues of the day and being challenged on issues too.”

While it can often be hard for European Election candidates to attain that buy-in from constituents, particularly with local elections also taking place on the same day, Mr Wallace stresses that issues like the cost of living crisis are a “direct result of decisions made at EU level”.

“People all over Ireland are struggling with the cost of living crisis,” he said. “Decisions being made at EU level are undermining the living conditions of many people.

“We are spending billions and billions on military build-up instead of housing and healthcare, while the new EU economic governance framework is an austerity package that will further restrict the fiscal space member states need to invest in affordable and social hosing, in job creation and decent work.

“We need to build an EU that puts the people’s interests before those of ‘Big Business’. Society only works when people care for each other, the EU will only work when it learns to care for all its people in a fair manner.”

Wallace is keen to dismiss any notion that the European Parliament is some kind of retirement home for long-serving TDs.

“I’ve approached my work in the European Parliament with the same seriousness as I did my work in the Dáil – it’s not a retirement home or a networking facility, it is an important institution along with the European Council in the co-decision process which makes the rules and regulations that govern our lives,” he said.

Firing a shot across the bow towards his fellow MEPs, he continued:

“The record of Independents4Change in the Parliament shows that, of all the Irish MEPs, Clare Daly and I are the most engaged with the work here. I hold the number one spot among the Irish MEPs for number of speeches in the Parliament’s plenary sessions.

“I have intervened at plenary more times than Colm Markey, Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, Deirdre Clune, Chris MacManus, Ciaran Cuffe, Maria Walsh, Grace O’Sullivan, and Frances Fitzgerald, combined. Clare has tabled more parliamentary amendments than any other Irish MEP, nearly four times as many as either Ciaran Cuffe or Barry Andrews”.

Now entering campaign mode, Wallace intends to host a number of question and answer sessions across the Ireland South Constituency in the month of May, including the Club House Hotel in Kilkenny on May 8; Nenagh Arts Centre on May 9; the Strand Hotel in Limerick on May 15; The Rock Community Centre in Cork on May 16; Treacy’s West County Hotel in Ennis on May 22 and finally returning home for an event at The Riverside Park Hotel in Enniscorthy on May 30.

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