Phil Hogan would likely have survived as an EU Commissioner had he received more support from Leo Varadkar or Micheál Martin, former cabinet minister Regina Doherty has said.
Ms Doherty, now a Fine Gael Senator, said there is limited sympathy in Fine Gael for Phil Hogan, but many in the party regret that Ireland lost a position “at the heart of Europe”.
Asked whether there was sympathy within the party for the former European Commissioner, she said: “Not really”.
“There’s sympathy in the party for losing a position in the heart of Europe, with such clout, it expended political capital that we didn’t have. We didn’t need to lose him, had one of the Taoiseach or Tánaiste stood up for him at the time, we probably wouldn’t have,” she said.
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She was speaking after remarks by Mr Hogan were published in advance of an RTÉ interview with broadcaster Seán O’Rourke, in which he too claimed he would likely have retained his role had he had the support of Coalition leaders.
Fine Gael Senator Barry Ward said could understand Mr Hogan’s frustration but “the reality is it has to be seen in the context of what was happening at the time, and in those circumstances you can understand the response of the Government even if they might not have the same response today.”
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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 Mr Varadkar and Mr 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.
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.”
