HOGAN HANGS BY A THREAD
More pressure on Phil as RTÉ cancels new Seán O’Rourke show Judge also facing an inquiry over attending the golf dinner
AN UNPRECEDENTED Mexican standoff between the Irish Government and the EU Commission continued last night over Commissioner Phil Hogan’s refusal to resign. As Mr Justice Séamus Woulfe became the latest high-profile figure to come under scrutiny for attending the controversial Oireachtas Golf Society dinner, Mr Hogan continued to ignore pleas to quit his €336,000-a-year post.
RTÉ, meanwhile, confirmed that plans for future projects with Seán O’Rourke – also at the dinner – will not go ahead
following a meeting between the former broadcaster and station chiefs.
Separate investigations were opened into the events at Clifden’s Station House Hotel by the EU and the judiciary, while Taoiseach Micheál Martin again called on ex-Fine Gael minister Hogan to ‘consider his position’.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has asked for further clarification from Mr Hogan after receiving a dossier describing his movements in Ireland.
And the Supreme Court has now ordered a report on Mr Justice Seamus Woulfe’s attendance at the Clifden golf dinner. It has asked former Chief Justice Susan Denham to review whether the former attorney general should have attended the event.
Gardaí are already investigating whether coronavirus rules were breached in holding the event in Clifden, two days after the Government announced it intended to curb the numbers permitted to gather together.
The event for more than 80 people was held in a hotel function room divided into two sections, with up to ten people per table in direct contravention of new Covid rules.
A resurgence in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks has led Ireland to backtrack on some of its plan to reopen society after lockdown.
However, the Taoiseach yesterday said he could not call on Justice Woulfe to resign.
‘I don’t believe he should have been at that event, but I think within the judicial arm of government, the judicial arm have to deal with this,’ he added. In the same interview, Mr Martin also denied the Government was falling apart, adding that it was ‘tenable’.
On the issue of Mr Hogan’s position, the Government says that only Commission president von der Leyen can actually sack the Commissioner, but Ministers last night told the Irish Daily Mail that the authority of the Government was being ‘eroded’ the longer Mr Hogan stayed in his job.
Sources in Brussels said the EU was reluctant to set the precedent of sacking a Commissioner at the behest of a sovereign government. But yesterday Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien made clear his differences with the Taoiseach by openly calling
on Mr Hogan to resign. The Fianna Fáil Minister told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland: ‘I think what he does need to do very quickly is provide absolute clarity around his movements when he was here in Ireland. We’ve been getting a drip-feed of information that’s unhelpful, to say the least.
‘And I think the Commissioner needs to realise how rightly people are so angry about this event and his participation...and to look at other colleagues like Dara Calleary, who acted swiftly and responsibly in standing up to his own responsibilities by resigning.’
However, a close friend of Mr Hogan, former Fine Gael councillor and senator Pat O’Neill, came out in defence of the Commissioner and said Mr Hogan had told him he believed the rooms at the function would be divided so attendees would not be breaching any Covid guidelines.
Mr O’Neill turned down his own invitation to the dinner. He told RTÉ’s Drivetime programme: ‘I’m a member of the Oireachtas golf society, but I didn’t travel. I felt it was too far from Kilkenny and I suppose I had questions in my mind in relation to what would happen,’ he admitted.
Meanwhile, it seems Mr Martin and Mr Varadkar were made aware that while in Kildare Mr Hogan had stopped at his apartment in the K-Club. He was also subsequently stopped by a Garda for allegedly using his mobile phone while driving.
As a result, Ministers said that they felt Mr Martin could have gone further in demanding Mr Hogan’s resignation.
There were back channel communications last night between Dublin and Brussels, as Irish officials tried to make it clear to senior people there that Mr Hogan’s position is untenable.
European Commission spokesman Dana Spinant told reporters: ‘This is a matter which requires careful assessment on our side. The president has requested further clarifications because details are important.’
She added: ‘This is a matter not just of respecting the rules, this is also a matter of public health. There are legal aspects involved and there are moral aspects involved as well.’