Dáil health-and-safety official attended #Golfgate event

Aoife Moore

The civil servant with responsibility for health and safety in the Oireachtas was present at a golf outing that flouted Covid19 guidelines. 

John Flaherty, the Captain of the Guard in Leinster House, has responsibility for the day-to-day management of the staff in the Oireachtas.

Mr Flaherty has been given new responsibilities this year for ensuring compliance to Covid19 restrictions around the parliament building.

Mr Flaherty was one of 81 guests who were present at the Station House Hotel function on Wednesday night for the Oireachtas Golf Society anniversary. The event has been the centre of a government scandal after it emerged that high-level Ministers, and civil servants, including Flaherty, attended the dinner and prize-giving, just one day after the government guidelines banned such private functions.

When contacted by the Irish Examiner about his presence at the event, Mr Flaherty replied that he did "not want to comment, but I was a resident in the hotel".

One staff member of the Oireachtas said that Mr Flaherty's presence at the event was "very serious".

"He's supposed to be responsible for our safety, it's ridiculous."

Since the news of the event broke in the Irish Examiner, Minister for Agriculture Dara Calleary has resigned.

The Taoiseach has said he is "deeply annoyed and upset" by what happened.

"I didn't expect it in any shape or form," he said.