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H
OW did a bankrupt developer, ex-TD, local football impresario, tax dodger, one-time bar owner, anti-war activist, Italophile and now MEP end up in a tangle with his own European political group over wine?
A video recently uploaded to TikTok by right-wing MEP Alessandro Panza piqued the Irish Independent's curiosity.
In it, Mr Wallace suggested he has an ongoing role in three wine bars in Dublin. The video also showed him taking a stand against Ireland's plan to put cancer warning labels on alcohol bottles, which the Italian government opposes.
Company accounts show he did own wine bars - or rather, the holding company Wallace Calcio, which was associated with wine bars, cafes and restaurants near Dublin's Italian Quarter - until 2016.
Accounts filed last April show it is majority-owned by Tina Harpur (51pc), with an address in Paris, and Patricia Barry (32pc), with an address in Goatstown, Dublin. Three Italian nationals share a 17pc stake, two of whom are named directors.
Wallace Calcio was incorporated in 2003. The company's first annual return, dated April 2004, shows Mr Wallace and his eldest son, Sasha, as directors, with Mick Wallace as the sole shareholder.
Tina Harpur and Patricia Barry first appear as shareholders on returns in 2010. His younger son, Fionn Wallace, was named a director in 2014, but exited that position soon after. Sasha exited his directorship of the company in 2017.
In the early 2000s, up until his bankruptcy in 2016, Mr Wallace owned or...