Martin dismisses Phil Hogan's claims around resignation
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Tánaiste Micheál Martin has strongly rejected claims from former EU Commissioner Phil Hogan that his government “fed information” to the EU in a bid to oust him.
Mr Martin was responding to stinging criticism of his handling of the Hogan affair.
Mr Hogan resigned following his failure to fully account for his movements in Ireland in August around an Oireachtas Golf Society event in August 2020.
He had accused Mr Martin, then Taoiseach, and Mr Varadkar of engaging in a “wave of populist indignation” and orchestrating his exit from his post as EU Trade Commissioner.
Mr Martin said there was no involvement with the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in “respect of anything prior to the decision of Phil Hogan to resign” saying they were completely at arm’s length.
“I can recall we had just put restrictions back on Kildare and two other counties — so I remember deputies getting on to me saying it was visceral, the public reaction,” Mr Martin said.
“There was a significant degree of opportunity and engagement with the EU Commission president. We had no involvement with the president [Ms von der Leyen] prior to the decision of Phil Hogan to resign,” he said.
“We were completely at arm’s length, I want to be clear on that. There is some implication in Mr Hogan’s comments that we [were] somehow driving or feeding information into the commission. No we were not,” he insisted.
Mr Martin said the context at the time was very clear, that the entire episode was “very regrettable”.
The Tánaiste said that there was “very real” public anger over the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner and Mr Hogan’s attendance.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said it is "regrettable" that Mr Hogan was not given due process at EU level before he was forced to resign in August 2020.
Mr Varadkar did not respond directly to the personal criticism of him made by Mr Hogan but appeared to place the blame for his downfall at the door of Ms von der Leyen.
“I appreciate that Phil Hogan paid a very high price politically, more so than anyone who attended that particular event. It was probably inevitable given the domino effect in the context of the time,” the Taoiseach said.
“I think it is regrettable that there wasn’t some sort of process, perhaps at European Commission level, and ultimately it was the European Commission who he was accountable to, not to us or the Dáil,” he added.
“I think that everyone should be afforded due process and a fair hearing and I’ll certainly try to make sure that’s the case into the future,” in a tacit acknowledgement of some failure on his part.
He said he did not think Mr Hogan’s reference to the three leaders saying that he should “consider his position” on the Saturday before he resigned in August 2020 “properly reflects the totality of what happened”.
Mr Hogan was interviewed by broadcaster Seán O’Rourke — who also attended the golf event — as part of a series of RTÉ podcasts linked to the Two Tribes documentary about the history of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.