Hogan hits out at Varadkar and Martin after 2020 Golfgate downfall
Resignation Niall Hogan Of Picture: A Said Has Carson/pa Minister Dara Wire 'domino That Calleary The Caused Effect' Agriculture Phil Then
Former EU Commissioner Phil Hogan has sought to blame Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tanaiste Micheál Martin for his downfall in 2020, despite apologising at the time for his attendance at an Oireachtas Golf Society dinner.
Mr Varadkar and Mr Martin went on a “populist wave of indignation” in the wake of 'Golfgate' and forced his resignation, Ireland’s former EU Commissioner said.
He has claimed the resignation of then agriculture minister Dara Calleary after it emerged he was one of more than 80 people at the Oireachtas Golf Society event in Clifden, Co Galway, while the country was under Covid lockdown caused a “domino effect” and led the media to “go after” him as the senior Fine Gael man.
Speaking in an extended interview with broadcaster Sean O’Rourke, who was also at the event, Mr Hogan admits he was “annoyed at the time” and “is still annoyed about what happened”, despite previously admitting he was to blame.
He said Mr Varadkar and Mr Martin were “completely wrong” in their assessment of the situation and the outcome of the court case in February of this year proved that.
Mr Hogan resigned as EU Commissioner in the summer of 2020 after he lost the confidence of his boss, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, for failing to fully account for his movements across Ireland during lockdown, even when she asked him to.
Mr Hogan apologised “fully and unreservedly” for attending the dinner on August 19, 2020, saying the blame for his downfall was “entirely my own”.
Mr Hogan was stopped by gardaí in Co Kildare for using his mobile phone while driving on August 17, 2020, on his way to Clifden.
Now, in this new interview, Mr Hogan claimed he was not given a fair chance to explain himself to the two leaders, who he has accused of orchestrating his exit through leaks to the media.
“I was annoyed at the time and still am annoyed about what happened at the time," he said.
"I expected a process where I could get a chance to explain myself, but they [Micháel Martin and Leo Varadkar] went on this populist wave of indignation about what was after happening on that occasion without actually analysing anything.”
Mr Hogan claimed the conversations he had and the meetings with the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, were leaked to the media.