DEFIANT DAIL GOLF SOCIETY PLOTS RETURN
Golfgate group in full swing as RTÉ restores O’Rourke
THE controversial Oireachtas Golf Society is preparing to tee off again – despite the Ceann Comhairle having publicly called on it to disband, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl, called for the group to be wound up shortly after news of the Golfgate scandal broke.
However, members of the society confirmed this weekend they will be returning to the fairways this year.
And we can also reveal that veteran broadcaster Séan O’Rourke will be returning to RTÉ following the dismissal of all
charges at the Golfgate trial in Galway District Court this week.
A member of the golf society told the MoS this weekend: ‘Reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated. We are looking forward to returning the links in 2022. We also look forward to welcoming all our colleagues, including those who have gone through such a hard time.’
Two days after news broke of the golf society dinner – attended by 81 guests at the Clifden Hotel in Connemara – on August 19, 2020, the Ceann Comhairle wrote to the secretary of the golf society, saying the group should be wound up ‘as a matter of urgency’.
‘While recognising that the golf society operates independently of the Oireachtas I write to suggest that, in the aftermath of this week’s events in Clifden, the society as it is currently structured and named be wound up as a matter of urgency,’ Mr Ó Feargháil said.
‘This, I believe, is a necessary action for the society in the aftermath of this week’s events.’
However, members who spoke to
‘The last thing Micheál needs is another martyr’
the MoS this weekend said the Ceann Comhairle has no jurisdiction over the Oireachtas Golf Society and that it will continue as a sporting and social entity.
One member told the MoS: ‘He has no more power to stop us calling ourselves the Oireachtas Golf Society as he has to order the Oireachtas Pigeon Fancying Club, if it existed, to wind up.’
Broadaster Mr O’Rourke is also on the comeback trail according to informed sources who said this weekend the former presenter of the daily mid-morning radio show – now presented by Claire Byrne – may be lined up to present a new television programme.
One source told the MoS: ‘The talk is that he will be doing a television programme but that’s just the talk at the moment. But the one sure thing is the will be back in RTÉ.’
RTÉ dropped a contract with Mr O’Rourke, reportedly worth €200,000, to present programmes following his retirement, after details of the golf event in Co. Galway broke in August 2020.
However, in a statement issued on Thursday the national broadcaster said: ‘RTÉ director general Dee Forbes said, at the end of 2020, that Seán is a tremendous broadcaster who had a big impact during his time with RTÉ and that if opportunities present themselves, RTÉ will, of course, consider them. This remains the case.’
The re-emergence of the golf society comes after Judge Mary Fahy dismissed all charges in the Golfgate trial at Galway District Court this week.
Galway West Independent TD Noel Grealish, 55, former Fianna Fáil senator Donie Cassidy, 75, John Sweeney, 60, and his son James Sweeney, 32 – who own the Station House Hotel in Clifden, Co. Galway – had been accused of illegally holding the event. But after three days of evidence, Judge Mary Fahy took less than five minutes to set out her verdict, dismissing the charges and commenting that ‘a lot of very good people lost very good jobs’ in the fallout from the event.
The controversy resulted in then-agriculture minister Dara Calleary falling on his sword followed a few days later by then-EU Commissioner Phil Hogan.
Some Cabinet ministers told the MoS this weekend they believe ‘resignations were not warranted’ at the time, but that Mr Calleary’s ‘unexpected resignation’ had set off ‘a train of events’.
In briefings this weekend, ministers conceded ‘mistakes’ were made in the aftermath of Golfgate. Sources pointed out that there was ‘public outcry’ over the event, which took place at a time when people were being asked by the Government to make difficult sacrifices.
admonishment: Seán Ó Fearghaíl One minister told the MoS: ‘It was never really about whether the event was illegal or not, though I wonder how many people knew they could have a hundred at their wedding if they used a partition.
‘We must not forget that the public outcry was huge at the time as we were entering a second wave and people were coming to terms with restrictions coming back.’
However, some ministers also believe a collective ‘nerve’ could have been held by the Coalition leaders at the time.
Many are still unclear of the interactions between Micheál Martin and Mr Calleary in the hours after news of the event broke.
However, friends of Mr Calleary say a phone call between the two late on the evening of August 19 convinced the then-minister to resign before he was pushed.
A senior minister told the MoS last night: ‘I always felt resignations weren’t warranted, but once Dara did – or he had to, I’m not fully sure what happened – it set off a train of events.’
After this week’s verdict, the
Taoiseach publicly praised Mr Calleary, saying: ‘In many ways, it’s a very high price for him to pay but he was very dignified in what he did.’
He added: ‘There is always a way back, of course, the door’s always open and there is always a way back for a person of the calibre of Dara Calleary. That’s clear.’
However, senior Government sources said the Taoiseach’s olive
branch was informed by concerns that the vindicated former minister could evolve into a potential leadership contender.
One minister said: ‘It’s a classic pre-emptive move. We all know the man from Mayo has to get something.’
A senior Fianna Fáil figure added: ‘Forget the rights and the wrongs or whether Micheál had any grounds for firing
him – Micheál knows it would be very risky to leave Dara exiled on the benches. The last thing Micheál needs is another exiled – and, worse still, vindicated – martyr on the backbenches.’
And, commenting on Mr Calleary’s potential leadership qualities, the source said: ‘Dara would play well in Dublin and rural Ireland.’