Phil Hogan's future in Brussels in the hands of EU Commission president

EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said he was satisfied that he was "no risk to anybody". Picture: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images

Phil Hogan's future as EU trade commissioner now lies with commission president Ursula von der Leyen after he presented her with a lengthy dossier on his movements around Ireland since returning from Brussels on July 31.

Mr Hogan said that he should not have attended last week's Oireachtas Golf Society dinner, where over 80 people gathered in a Galway hotel in breach of public health guidelines, but said that he had apologised to the Irish people for his attendance.

The dossier reveals for the first time since Mr Hogan's attendance at the event was uncovered that the EU commissioner tested negative for the virus in a Dublin hospital.

This, Mr Hogan said, enabled him to end his period of 14-day self-isolation and move freely. 

This has been contradicted by the HSE and Department of Health, though Mr Hogan told RTÉ News that he "does not accept that".

”I am satisfied that arising from the test that I did, which proved that I was negative, that I was no risk to anybody.

"Because of the fact that I had a negative test. Because my medical people said I was no risk to anybody. I checked with the Citizens Information website, which is funded by the HSE, and I felt that I was no risk to anybody by going to Adare.

"I understand the perception. I was covered by the regulations that my work-related activities and under the regulation, there is a reasonable excuse mechanism that allowed me the exemption to do that."

Mr Hogan told Ms von der Leyen that to his best understanding, his justification for entering Co Kildare on three occasions to obtain essential working documents or to "get my belongings for the purpose of returning home to Brussels" constitutes “a reasonable excuse” under the regulations.

“At all times during my brief presence in Kildare over the period, I followed public health guidance,” he told his EU boss.

However, Mr Hogan's timeline says that after that medical appointment, he returned to Kildare for a night before moving on to Kilkenny.

This contradicts a statement given to the Irish Examiner on Friday, which said that Mr Hogan went to Kilkenny "immediately on the conclusion of that medical appointment".

Mr Hogan's timeline confirms that he had played golf at Adare Manor on August 13, but makes no mention of the evening before, when multiple sources confirmed to the Irish Examiner that Mr Hogan had both stayed in a hotel and dined at a restaurant in the town.

Sources have confirmed to the Irish Examiner that Mr Hogan stayed in the Dunraven Arms Hotel on the night before he played a round of golf at Adare Manor.

He was seen dining at a restaurant in the town on August 12, the same day that he had met with Tánaiste Leo Varadkar in Dublin, a meeting a spokesperson had said was "essential".

On further questioning, the spokesperson said that Mr Hogan had travelled to Adare from Kilkenny but "he did not know on which date".

In his eight public statements on the controversy to date, Mr Hogan made no reference to his game of golf in Adare or his presence in the local hotel the night before. One source said that they had seen Mr Hogan in both the hotel and restaurant.

The Irish Times later revealed that Mr Hogan had made a social visit to Roscommon last week, but did not include this in the dossier sent to Ms von der Leyden. A spokesperson told the paper they "failed to see its relevance".