Clare Daly insists hiring Mick Wallace’s son is ‘non-story’ – Updated 19th. July 2019 from Irish Independent by Philip Ryan

CLARE Daly has defended hiring her political ally Mick Wallace’s son as a taxpayer funded European Parliament assistant – a role that can command a salary of more than €8,500 a month.
Strict EU anti-nepotism rules prohibit MEPs from hiring close relatives, meaning Mr Wallace could not employ his son Fionn.
However, his party colleague Ms Daly listed Fionn A Wallace as one of her three parliamentary assistants.
In a statement published on Facebook, Ms Daly said she recruited an “excellent team of highly qualified professionals” to work as her assistants in the parliament.
“In terms of my staff, everyone an MEP wants to hire has to go through a recruitment process run by the European Parliament during which they have to provide evidence of their qualifications and experience,” she said.
“I consider myself fortunate to have assembled an excellent team of highly qualified professionals to do the job they have been employed to do.”
She described her decision to hire Mr Wallace’s son as a “sensational non-story” about one of her staff members.
The newly elected MEP, who will be paid €105,092 a year, said the European Parliament’s expenses were “outlandish and excessive and should be reformed”.
“All 751 MEPs have the same allowances. I will be fully transparent in my use of same,” she added.
Ms Daly did not respond to questions posed to her by the Irish Independent in which she was asked what qualifications Mr Wallace’s son held to qualify for the job.
She also did not respond to questions asking how much she intended to pay him.
MEPs are given a massive €25,000 a month to spend on staff salaries and at least 25pc, or €6,250, must be used to pay parliament-based accredited assistants.
However, there is no cap on how much can be spent hiring parliamentary assistants. Parliamentary assistants are paid on pay ranging from €1,849 to €8,519 a month. The pay scale at which an assistant is paid is entirely at the discretion of the elected Member of Parliament.

From Irish Independent 18th. July 2019 by Philip Ryan DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR

Nothing to see here move on – Daly and Wallace not so good on answering questions.

CLARE DALY has hired the son of her close political ally Mick Wallace as a taxpayer-funded European Parliament assistant.

Strict EU anti-nepotism rules prohibit MEPs from hiring close relatives meaning Mr Wallace could not employ his own son Fionn.

However, his party colleague Ms Daly has listed Fionn A Wallace as one of her three parliamentary assistants – roles which can command up to €8,519 a month.

Mr Wallace’s own Brussels office yesterday confirmed the MEP’s son had been hired by Ms Daly.

Mr Wallace’s son is now set to earn thousands of euro in taxpayers’ money working for his father’s party colleague. Mr Wallace previously used his Dáil parliamentary allowance to pay the same son €20,000 for what was described as research and policy formulation work.

Mr Wallace and Ms Daly are both members of the Independents4Change party and jointly announced plans to run for the European Parliament ahead of last May’s election.

The two political allies now earn €105,092 each a year while also being entitled to the controversial and much-criticised EU expenses system.

MEPs are reimbursed for business-class flights to Brussels, get €320 a night for accommodation and are also entitled to €4,513 a month for general expenses such as the cost of phone bills, computer equipment or office rental.

MEPs are also given a massive €25,000 a month to spend on staff salaries and at least 25pc or €6,250 must be used to pay parliament-based accredited assistants.

However, there is no cap on how much can be spent hiring parliamentary assistants.

This means the entire €25,000 monthly pay budget could be used to pay Mr Wallace’s son and the two other assistants employed by Ms Daly. Parliamentary assistants are paid on pay ranging from €1,849 to €8,519 a month.

The pay scale at which an assistant is paid is entirely at the discretion of the elected member of parliament.

Fionn Wallace was listed as a director of his father’s now liquidated construction company M & J Wallace Ltd.

Last year, he resigned from Wallace Calcio Ltd – the company that once operated his father’s Italian wine bars and restaurants business.

Mr Wallace and Ms Daly did not respond to queries from the Irish Independent.