Leo Varadkar has defended not standing up for Phil Hogan after Golfgate because he said was on his holidays at the time of the crisis.
Mr Varadkar refused to say if he regretted not backing his former senior party colleague in Fine Gael, only saying that he regrets Golfgate ever happened.
The Tánaiste was responding after it emerged this week that Mr Hogan is considering legal action over him losing his top EU job as Commissioner for Trade in August 2020 over the Golfgate affair.
Mr Hogan is acting after Judge Mary Fahy ruled in Galway District Court three weeks ago that four men accused of breaking Covid laws in relation to Golfgate were innocent. Golfgate saw 81 guests dine at a gala dinner in the Station House Hotel in Clifden on August 19th 2020, after an Oireachtas golf society day in Connemara golf club that day.
It was alleged that Covid public health laws were broken in the hotel on that day, but Judge Fahy has ruled that no laws were broken. Mr Hogan lost his job in the immediate aftermath of the notorious dinner when he handed in his resignation to EU Commission President, Ursula Von der Leyen, on August 26th 2020.
Earlier that afternoon, Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, spoke to reporters at Scoil Fiachra national school in north Dublin and refused to call for Mr Hogan’s resignation, effectively giving Mr Hogan a pass at a crucial time.
However, there was silence from Tánaiste and head of Fine Gael, Mr Varadkar that afternoon and evening.
Ms Von der Leyen accepted Mr Hogan’s resignation that night.
Mr Varadkar was asked on Tuesday afternoon if he regretted not backing Mr Hogan that day and the subsequent loss of Ireland’s hold on the prized EU Trade Commissioner portfolio. He told the Mirror that “the whole thing was regrettable” and that the Golfgate dinner should have been cancelled.
When pressed if he regretted not backing his old party colleague Mr Hogan, like the Taoiseach had, Mr Varadkar said he was away on leave at the time. He said: “Like a lot of people at the time, August, I was on annual leave, I think I was in Cork, or Limerick at that particular point in time, so there is no significance in that.”
He added: “The whole thing was regrettable…. I regret it (the dinner) wasn’t cancelled.”
