Phil Hogan: ‘populist wave of indignation’ over Golfgate at home likely cost Commission job

Phil Hogan has said he would likely have retained his role as Ireland’s European commissioner had he had the support of the Government leaders.

Mr Hogan resigned from office following his controversial attendance at a dinner during Covid-19 restrictions in 2020, a scandal that later assumed the moniker “Golfgate”.

Asked if he felt President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen might have been happy to keep him on had he enjoyed the backing of Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin, Mr Hogan said he did.

“It’s the first member state government that ever opposed a commissioner who was in office. And this was the first time I suppose that the president of the commission was faced with that,” he said in an interview with former RTÉ broadcaster Sean O’Rourke, who had also attended the Clifden, Co Galway dinner.

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“She acknowledged, in the course of various meetings I had with her, that there was no law broken. But she [said], how does it look in the eyes of your member state?”

[ Golfgate? I can smile about it now, says Sean O’Rourke ]

At the time, Mr Hogan said, he had expected a chance to explain himself but the party leaders “went on this populist wave of indignation”.

“When I was speaking to them, they were talking about how we could actually explain what had happened, and at the same time they were writing a letter that was going to appear on the front page of the Sunday Independent calling for my resignation, effectively, or to consider my position as they put it.”

However, Mr Hogan said he had moved on and was now finished with Irish politics, although he would not rule out a possible international role in the years ahead.

His discussion with Mr O’Rourke features on a podcast series accompanying the Two Tribes television documentary which explores the history of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, the first part of which airs on RTÉ on Wednesday night.

Mr Hogan, who is also a former Fine Gael minister, said he felt his party ought to have entered opposition rather than Government with Fianna Fail in 2020.

“The people had decided that Fine Gael had been in Government long enough, 20 per cent support was reflective of the fact…we should have stayed out and gone into opposition or had another election.”

However, he said he had no issue with the Fianna Fáil partnership, a coalition he believed was an inevitability.

Mr Varadkar, when he assumed leadership in 2017, was the “best available leader at the time”, he said, but appeared to criticise elements of his stewardship.

“He articulated the right policy propositions…in terms of people getting up early in the morning and being rewarded for their hard work, but unfortunately as soon as he became Taoiseach, that would seem to have been abandoned as a principle.”

Although he had articulated the right priorities in 2017, Mr Hogan said the new leader did not implement them sufficiently to resonate with the electorate, a mistake reflected in the 2020 election results that forced the current coalition.

He also lamented the U-turn on water charges, a highly controversial policy move introduced during his time as environment minister.

“We put in all the metres around the country in order to make sure that people would pay as you use as you would any other utility like gas or electricity,” he said. “And my successors decided that they wanted to go away from water conservation and I think that’s a mistake.”

On the 2010 front bench heave against Enda Kenny, Mr Hogan said he had foreseen the revolt and counselled the former leader accordingly on a number of occasions.