Former European commissioner Phil Hogan’s consultancy firm earned at least €1 million last year, with banking giant JP Morgan Chase, Enfer labs and law firm DLA Piper among his larger clients, according to new filings.
The former Fine Gael minister started a consultancy business after he resigned as EU trade commissioner in the fallout from the “Golfgate” controversy during the Covid-19 pandemic.
European Union (EU) transparency rules require lobbying firms to declare revenue from their work in Brussels and records show Hogan Strategic Advisory Services was paid in the region of €1 million last year for declared work.
The firm said it carried out work on behalf of telecoms firm Vodafone, Dutch semiconductor manufacturer Nexperia, and Velico Medical, a company founded by Irish entrepreneur Richard Meehan.
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Mr Hogan splits his time between Ireland and Brussels. His firm was incorporated in Ireland as an unlimited company, meaning it is not required to publish annual accounts of its profits or other financial information.
Therefore, filings submitted to the EU’s transparency register provide the only insight into how much the former minister for the environment’s business is bringing in.
The latest filing states DLA Piper was Mr Hogan’s top client last year, paying his consultancy firm between €200,000 and €300,000. The company reported receiving revenues of between €100,000 and €200,000 from Enfer Labs, a Co Kildare firm involved in veterinary diagnostics.
Mr Hogan received between €100,000 and €200,000 for his role sitting on US banking giant JP Morgan Chase’s “advisory council”, providing insights on developments in Europe.
[ European Commission queried Hogan’s consultancy work with further clientsOpens in new window ]
The former Carlow-Kilkenny TD resigned as EU trade commissioner in August 2020 under political pressure for attending a dinner organised by the Oireachtas golf society at a time when Covid-19 restrictions on large gatherings were in place.
He was subject to a two-year “cooling off” period, which prevented him from lobbying or doing other work that overlapped with his old trade and agriculture portfolios in the commission, the EU’s executive arm that proposes laws.
The Irish Times previously reported that Mr Hogan had to temporarily stop his consultancy work for DLA Piper after the commission’s ethics watchdog felt he could be breaching those rules.
Since those limits on his consultancy work were lifted, his firm has reported revenues of at least €1 million a year, according to EU filings.
The latest filing, covering 2024, states his company was paid between €100,000 and €200,000 by Velico Medical, a US-based company that develops blood transfusion products.
His firm declared receiving up to €50,000 for work on behalf of Vodafone, between €50,000 and €100,000 for consultancy work for card payments giant Visa, and an amount in the same range from Nexperia.
Mr Hogan, who served as a minister in Enda Kenny’s coalition government, is the sole owner of the company.
