#Golfgate latest: Phil Hogan 'in difficulty' says Coveney, Von der Leyen requests further clarification

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said that if the Commissioner cannot adequately explain his movements in to and out of Kildare last week his position will be "in difficulty." Picture: Stephen Collins /Collins Photos Dublin

EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen has requested further clarification from EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan after receiving his report on his movements surrounding his attendance at the Oireachtas golf dinner in Cliffden Co Galway. 

The Irish Times reported a spokesperson for the EC President said "details matter" having received Mr Hogan's dossier and asked for more information. 

The latest development comes as Taoiseach expressed his fury at Mr Hogan's presence at the Co Galway dinner. 

Micheál Martin has said that he made his anger very clear to EU Commissioner Phil Hogan about his attendance at the Oireachtas Golf Society event in Clifden. Mr Martin also said that the event should never have happened.

Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne Show, Mr Martin said he had asked Commissioner Hogan to consider his position over the weekend.

Of even more concern to him, he said was if the Commissioner had breached Covid restrictions in Kildare. That was very serious.

The public need to know that restrictions in Kildare were not breached.

Mr Martin said he had received a call from the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee to inform him that Mr Hogan had been stopped by gardaí for using a mobile phone while he was driving in Kildare.

This was of concern to him and the Tánaiste, he said, as this information was not in accordance with what Mr Hogan had initially said about being in Kildare. 

Mr Martin said that given there was a discrepancy between Mr Hogan's statements, he needed to know that the restrictions in Kildare were not breached. 

He and the Tánaiste had asked the Garda Commissioner for full details on the incident.

Gardai were at the forefront of implementing guidelines, he added. The question was if Mr Hogan had been in full adherence of the restrictions.

There was understandably a lot of anger from the public about what had happened, he said. People had made huge sacrifices, particularly people who lost loved ones and could not give them a proper funeral.

Mr Martin he would like to see a “very comprehensive statement” from Mr Hogan to fully explain his position around the restrictions in Kildare.

“We are holding a light on the anger of the Irish people to what they regard as an unacceptable breach of the guidelines by people in office.” 

 Mr Martin also said Mr Justice Séamus Woulfe should not have attended the event, but this was something the judiciary needed to look at.

Phil Hogan “in difficulty” but needs due process say Simon Coveney

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney says that Phil Hogan should be given "due process" following his attendance at the golf society dinner whilst admitting that if the Commissioner cannot adequately explain his movements in to and out of Kildare his position will be "in difficulty."

In an interview with the Opinion Line, on Cork's 96FM, Minister Coveney said whilst he was "furious" about what occurred in Galway he would like to read Mr Hogan's explanations of why he was in and out of Kildare.

"I would like to be reassured by those statements that he complied as best he could with the rules and regulations linked to Covid.

"It doesn't matter whether you are a Commissioner, a President, a Taoiseach, a Minister or anybody else for that matter the same rules should apply to everybody in Ireland.

If he didn't apply those rules to himself then I think his position is in difficulty. We also have to give due process here even though people are furious.

"He has been asked to account for himself and I would like to see the detail of that before I cast any further judgement."

Mr Coveney said Mr Hogan has been an effective Commissioner and is well respected in Europe.

However, he emphasised that it cannot be the case that it is "one rule for some people and another for everybody else."

"That is and has undermined the authority in politics and in Government in the context of the challenges we all face in responding to Covid-19 and trying to keep people safe. It is really regrettable that it happened. It shouldn't have happened.

For people like me and many others we are really really annoyed about it. The people who were at that dinner have been suspended and there has been a series of resignations as well. 

"And obviously an awful lot of apologies.

"I can totally get why people are furious. This was the day after the Government made some very unpopular but very necessary decisions to try and contain the spread of Covid."

Government has no confidence in Phil Hogan, says Darragh O’Brien

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has said that the Government does not have confidence in EU Commissioner Phil Hogan and that he should resign.

When asked on Newstalk Breakfast if the Government had confidence in Phil Hogan, Mr O’Brien said, no.

Phil Hogan remains under scrutiny after further details of his movements before the Oireachtas golf dinner event emerged over the weekend. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Mr O'Brien said the EU Commissioner has to be “really clear about his whereabouts and his actions over that period of time, the drip feed of information is less than helpful, I still don't think he understands how angry people are about this and rightly so.

“This event should never have happened, but it did happen, he shouldn't have attended, he showed really poor judgement at the very least to attend the event. 

"The fact that the first apology was a non-apology, then when the Taoiseach and Tánaiste pressed him further there was a more fulsome one, but then we get details of trips to Kildare, a stop off in Kildare, we don't know the full details of it.” 

Mr O’Brien said that the Taoiseach and Tánaiste had been pretty clear when they asked the Commissioner to consider his position and said Mr Phil "should still do that".

"It's not just down to one person"

“All of us understand he is an EU Commissioner, it's not in the competence of the Government to hire or indeed fire, that's something that is up to Ursula von der Leyen," said Mr O'Brien. 

"It really is a saga that is dragging on. It's damaging. He's been a good commissioner, there is no question about that.” 

The Minister said that no one should be above the law, Dara Calleary had acted properly and swiftly and resigned his job, others had lost the party whip, “it just appears to a lot of people that the only person who appears to be above taking any responsibility for this appears to be EU Commissioner Hogan.

“It is a really important portfolio, Brexit is on the horizon, but let’s not forget this, Michel Barnier has been head of the negotiating team for the last couple of years, he's a Frenchman, he's an EU official, he and this team have acted on behalf of the EU and have put Ireland's interests first. 

"I don't think it's a suggestion of just having an Irish person there. The Commissioner is there to serve the European Union but the European Union has been unified to Brexit thankfully, I don't see that changing.

“Our own Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has played a pivotal role in that too. It's not just down to one person.

“Phil Hogan has been a very good and effective Commissioner, there's no question about that.” 

Later on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, Mr O'Brien again said that Commissioner Hogan should resign and should immediately provide absolute clarity on his movements. 

The “drip-feed” of information had not been helpful, he said and that Mr Hogan needed to realise how angry people were.