Phil Hogan 'still annoyed' over Golfgate as he criticises Leo Varadkar's leadership

Former EU Commissioner Phil Hogan has sought to blame Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Micheál Martin for his resignation in 2020 over his attendance at an Oireachtas Golf Society dinner during a period of Covid restrictions.

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 told RTÉ as part of its Two Tribes documentary series.

Mr Hogan also criticised Mr Varadkar’s failure to fulfil Fine Gael leadership campaign promises.

Speaking in an extended interview with broadcaster Sean O’Rourke, who was also at the infamous event in Clifden, Co Galway, Mr Hogan admitted 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.

He apologised “fully and unreservedly” for attending the dinner on August 19th, 2020, saying the blame for his downfall was “entirely my own”.

Mr Hogan was also stopped by gardaí in Co Kildare for using his mobile phone while driving on August 17th, 2020, on his way to Clifden.

Speaking about his resignation as European Commissioner, Mr Hogan said: "I was annoyed at the time and still am annoyed about what happened at the time. 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".

Sean O'Rourke asked Mr Hogan: "Did you get a sense at any stage that one of them or somebody close to them, senior figure in the Government of the day had their eye on replacing you?"

Mr Hogan replied: "There's no doubt about that. That subsequently showed to be the case. There were several figures that were looking at the possibility of being Commissioner but at the end of the day they have now been proven to be completely wrong in their assessment.

"They started out saying I broke rules, and broke laws. I was a bit sloppy on guidelines, but I didn't break any rule, or any law and it took a court case in Galway in February 2022 to actually show everybody what actually had happened on how wrong the Government and the media were."

Regarding the result of the 2020 general election and Fine Gael's entry into Coalition with Fianna Fáil, Mr Hogan said he thought Fine Gael should have stayed in opposition as they were "rejected by the people".

"The people had decided that Fine Gael had been in Government long enough, 20 per cent support was reflective of the fact that the people did not want Fine Gael in Government. We should have stayed out and gone into opposition or had another election," he said.

Mr Hogan claimed the poor 2020 election result was because Mr Varadkar had "abandoned" his 2017 leadership campaign promises.

"He articulated the right priorities in 2017 but didn't implement them sufficiently strong enough to resonate with the electorate, and ultimately he paid a price in the 2020 election," he said.

"I think [Leo Varadkar] should have taken a breather to regenerate and regroup and be a strong leading opposition party."