Daniel McConnell: In his own words, Phil Hogan was the author of his own downfall

Despite recent revisionist interpretations, the facts make nonsense of the notion that the former European commissioner had been hung out to dry after Golfgate

Phil Hogan announcing his resignation as European commissioner live on RTÉ News on August 26, 2020. A day earlier, in an interview with RTÉ’s Tony Connolly, he took full responsibility for his actions. File picture: RTÉ

IN the weeks since the Golfgate criminal trial was thrown out by Judge Mary Fahy, there has been an extraordinary amount of revisionism.

We have seen Taoiseach Micheál Martin pressed about his treatment of Dara Calleary, his then agriculture minister, who resigned amid public outrage over the Oireachtas Golf Society function, held in Clifden in August 2020, just days after the Government had announced strict public health measures for social gatherings. 

Martin has conceded there is “always a way back into Cabinet for someone of the calibre of Dara Calleary”.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has also come under internal pressure in Fine Gael to admit he was wrong to remove the party whip from senators who were present at the Galway function.

And the latest example of this misplaced revisionism is the interviews given by Ireland’s former EU commissioner Phil Hogan.

“The outcome of the court process in Galway demonstrates that everybody who attended that event in good faith was humiliated and treated as a criminal for the past year and a half,” Hogan blasted.

This, of course, is utter tripe.

I have been hesitant to put pen to paper on this matter, conscious that I could appear to be defending the actions of the Irish Examiner — the publication that first revealed that 81 people had gathered for an Oireachtas Golf Society dinner when the rest of the country was told to make huge sacrifices for the common good.

But it is apt for me to counter a narrative that those who suffered in the fallout were wrongly hanged, drawn, and quartered by some out-of-control mob.

Hogan’s difficulties culminated from his ever-changing story around his wider movements across Ireland at a time of severe lockdown, thus leading to a loss of confidence in him from his own boss, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

Phil Hogan was the master of his own downfall.

He said as much in a TV interview with RTÉ’s Tony Connolly on August 25, 2020, the day before he finally fell on his sword.

“The bottom line is, I made a mistake, I should not have been there,” he said. “In hindsight, I was wrong, I made a mistake, and I should not have gone.

When I think of all of the people who cancelled weddings or who lost loved ones. A gathering of a number like that in any particular venue at the moment is wrong and I made a mistake.

Specifically pressed by Connolly that it appeared he was seeking to shift the blame on to others, Hogan insisted: “No, it wasn’t appropriate for me to be attending, and I made a big mistake by doing that, it was a very big embarrassment and I apologise for doing so.”

Then European commissioner for agriculture and rural development Phil Hogan with then attorney general Séamus Woulfe pictured in January 2018. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

Pressed again by Connolly as to why he didn’t follow the example of former taoiseach Enda Kenny, who played golf but did not attend the dinner, Hogan said: “Let me be very clear, I made a big mistake by going to that event. I am embarrassed by it. I know I should not have been there.

“A gathering of that kind was not appropriate at this time, there is no excuse for this. I have apologised profusely,” he said.

I should not have been there. We should not have been gathering in such numbers. The bottom line is that I made mistakes. I should not have gone to the event. 

Does Hogan now regret all those apologies and expressions of regret? Does he withdraw them?

This idea that all of those who were present on August 19, 2020, in the Station House Hotel in Clifden, have been absolved of all responsibility is simply not credible.

Those supportive of Hogan have penned pieces in recent days about how Golfgate highlighted the dangers of following a “lynch mob” seeking to “convict people of a crime they did not commit”.

There have been arguments that the dismissal of all charges against the accused should have prompted some self-reflection in the media on its role in propagating a false narrative in August 2020.

Some have bemoaned the fact that even though we live in a democracy, there is such a thing as a “court of public opinion”.

Two senior political figures, EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan and agriculture minister Dara Calleary, were sacrificed to appease media-fuelled public anger, it has been contended.

It has also been said the removal of Hogan from his key role in Brussels was a national own goal.

“At the time of his departure, he had established himself as one of Ireland’s best-ever commissioners, of the calibre of Peter Sutherland or Ray MacSharry,” one writer suggested.

Now back in the real world. The decision to press charges against those who organised and ran the event is a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions to answer, but one cannot ignore the need for political accountability in the wake of the event.

Far from a lynch mob, there was a legitimate and spontaneous outpouring of anger from a scared and fatigued public.

Hogan and his peers all acknowledged his actions were wrong

The entrance to the Station House Hotel in Clifden, Connemara, Co Galway, which hosted the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner in 2020 amid the new Covid-19 restrictions. Picture: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews

Hogan himself said it was wrong. Does he not feel that way any more? Were his apologies not meant? 

Dara Calleary also said it was wrong. So did Micheál Martin, Leo Varadkar, and Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl, who was scathing in his criticism of what happened.

The Ceann Comhairle said that while everyone makes mistakes, it was not normal for intelligent people to make a collective decision that was fundamentally wrong, calling it either “collective crass stupidity” or “arrogant delusion”.

Hogan, in his interview with French newspaper Libération, suggested that he was considering taking legal action against the Commission for essentially forcing his departure.

Suggesting that von der Leyen forced his resignation, Hogan also took aim at Martin and Varadkar for their role in his downfall.

Their decision to call on Hogan “to consider his position” in the wake of Golfgate did escalate matters and no doubt led to a draining of confidence in him.

Hogan’s supporters have repeatedly argued that the Irish government decided to take out its own commissioner but such an argument again does not stand up to scrutiny.

The move by the Government no doubt played a part — but it was a European Commission matter, not an Irish government one.

His departure from the senior trade commissioner portfolio may have been regrettable, but unlike the revisionists who are seeking to heap blame on others, the blame for Hogan’s demise rests solely with Phil Hogan.