Dara Calleary paid a 'very heavy price' for Golfgate attendance – Taoiseach
Dara Calleary resigned from his post of Agriculture Minister on the morning of August 21, 12 hours after the Irish Examiner first reported on the Oireachtas golf society event in Clifden. Picture : Eamon Ward
Dara Calleary paid a “very heavy price” for his attendance at the 2020 Golfgate event in Galway, and there is “always a route back to Cabinet” for someone of his calibre, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.
Mr Martin, speaking after all charges against four defendants were dismissed in court on Thursday, said Mr Calleary’s decision to resign so quickly helped maintain the national solidarity in the fight against Covid-19.
Mr Calleary resigned from his post of Agriculture Minister on the morning of August 21, 12 hours after the first reported on the Oireachtas golf society event in Clifden.
Responding to questions from the , Mr Martin said there was a broader issue given just at that time in what people had to endure in terms of very severe restrictions.
Mr Martin said he accepts the Court decision.
“Dara resigned and I pay tribute to the decision he took. I think he understood that sense and the importance of trust between government and the people in respect of Covid-19 and its management, to the restrictions that were brought in,” he said.
“In many ways, it's a very high price for him to pay but he was very dignified in what he did,” Mr Martin said. “In many ways he ensured the continuation of that trust in terms of how we manage Covid-19.
“There is always a way back, of course, the door’s always open and there is always a way back to a person of the calibre of Dara Calleary,” he said.
He said many people would have been taken by the manner Mr Calleary responded at the time.
It comes as Galway TD Noel Grealish said that it is “onwards and upwards” following the conclusion of the trial surrounding the controversial dinner.
Mr Grealish, along with former Fianna Fáil senator Donie Cassidy, 75, John Sweeney, 60, and his son James Sweeney, 32, who own the Station House Hotel, had been accused of illegally holding the event in August 2020.
All four had faced a single charge that they organised an event that contravened the Health Act 1947, as amended, to prevent, limit, minimise or slow the spread of Covid-19.
On Thursday, the charges were dismissed against the four men.
The alleged offence related to a dinner at the Station House Hotel in Clifden, Co Galway, which was attended by 81 people.
Speaking to Galway Bay FM on Friday, Mr Grealish said that it had been “a tough period”.
“I was more upset for my staff and for my family at the time, and the people that supported me,” he said.
He added that the abuse he got on social media was “absolutely unreal”, saying that it was a story for another day.
“And I was disappointed. People did call for my resignation at the time and [that] I should have resigned my Dáil seat, even though the court process hadn’t taken place.
“Now that it has gone through that I just want to move on.”
Mr Grealish added that he has a number of projects he wants to work on for Galway and the west of Ireland.
“I just want to get focused on that now and put this whole process behind me.”
It comes as former RTÉ broadcaster Sean O’Rourke told the that he wants to get back on the air following the case.
Mr O’Rourke said the outcome of the trial “is a relief” to the defendants and also everyone who attended the event on the assurance it complied with the prevailing Covid-19 guidelines
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