Irish Examiner View: #Golfgate has provided hard lessons for battered Government

EU commissioner Phil Hogan is well beyond the reach of Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar, and has no intention of resigning. Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

It is a principle of old-school gundog training that you should never give a young dog an order you cannot enforce. The idea is that if you do, you are, despite your best intentions, training it to ignore instructions. The trainer is needlessly squandering authority and credibility while emboldening an increasingly defiant pupil. 

It seems more than a pity that Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar did not have even a passing acquaintance with this dynamic before they asked EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan to consider his position — political shorthand for asking someone to resign.

Mr Hogan is beyond their reach, and his apology just before noon yesterday suggests he had no intention of resigning — an impression confirmed by a subsequent statement from his spokesperson that he will not be resigning. This is hardly unexpected — Mr Hogan is one of the bull-necked dreadnoughts of Irish and European political life. He is not a snowflake, nor does he blush easily, even when reminded of the Irish Water mess for which he was responsible before he was nominated as an EU commissioner.

The firmness of his response may, however, cause Mr Martin and Mr Varadkar to blush — or should it? At the moment when Brexit talks enter something like an endgame, they may not consider it wise to stand down the commissioner with a better understanding of what a hard Brexit might mean for this island than almost any of the alternatives.

That may be a bitter pill to swallow, but it is certainly Mr Hogan's ace card. There must be a suspicion too that this hollow ultimatum was part of a choreography designed to assuage public anger, but one that was ultimately meaningless in any context other than inflicting further damage on the credibility of our political processes. Tragically, we are at a point where that argument cannot be dismissed as easily as might be wished.

Tragically, the same argument applies to the recalling of the Dáil. It may be entirely appropriate, but will it achieve anything? The Leinster House numbers suggest that, as Mr Hogan is beyond Mr Martin's or Mr Varadkar's reach, fundamental change is beyond the reach of the Opposition. 

Despite all of these tawdry, draining revelations, it is important — albeit increasingly difficult — to retain faith in our political system. As Michelle Obama warned just six days ago: "If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can."