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Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said Phil Hogan has “undermined the whole approach to public health in Ireland” but stopped short of saying he did not have confidence in the EU trade commissioner.
Last week, Mr Hogan attended the Oireachtas Golf Society event in Clifden, with 80 others, and his movements to and from the controversial event while coronavirus restrictions were in place have been under scrutiny.
Speaking in Dublin on Wednesdaoy, Mr Martin said there has been a “significant difficulty for the Government in terms of the changing narrative as this story has unfolded”.
He said he had spoken to Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar and the Green Party’s Eamon Ryan about the issue.
“People across the country have made great sacrifices in adhering to the guidance in relation to Covid-19. The three leaders met yesterday and we discussed this, we issued a statement and that is the key assessment from us in terms of the degree to which the guidelines were not adhered to in respect of the commissioner.”
However, Mr Martin said he wanted to honour the “demarcation” of power between the European Commission and national governments.
He said EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had to work within the parameters of European treaties when assessing the situation.
“I’m not going to in any way seek to influence or interfere with the president’s competence in that regard,” he said.
Stopping short of declaring that he does not have confidence in Mr Hogan, Mr Martin said “the commissioner is accountable to the Commission, not to the Oireachtas and not the Government”.
Earlier, however, Mr Ryan said the administration had lost confidence in Mr Hogan because of the lack of immediate transparency and communication from him.
The Irish Times has reported fresh eyewitness claims Mr Hogan was not self-isolating when he should have been.
Meanwhile, Dr von der Leyen has “taken note” of the rejection by Irish authorities of Mr Hogan’s justification of his movements in Ireland that the embattled commissioner claimed showed he broke no rules.
Questions about Mr Hogan dominated a Brussels press conference hosted by European Commission spokeswoman Dana Spinant on Wednesday.
The trade commissioner submitted a timeline of his movements to Dr von der Leyen that was quickly called into question as new information emerged about his whereabouts, and the HSE and Citizens Information service denied his interpretation of coronavirus rules.
“The president is studying carefully the report that was submitted by Commissioner Hogan yesterday,” Ms Spinant told journalists, describing the matter as “a serious one”.
“The president is in contact with Commissioner Hogan about it. On the other hand, we have taken note of the statement by Irish authorities.”
There have been contacts between Mr Hogan and Dr von der Leyen since he submitted the report.
The HSE and Citizens Information issued statements saying that all incoming travellers from non-Green List countries must stay in self isolation for 14 days even if they test negative for Covid-19, contradicting Mr Hogan’s justification for cutting short his quarantine.
The Commission spokeswoman said that according to their information, Mr Hogan had complied with Belgium’s two-week quarantine obligation on his return from Ireland this weekend and emphasised it was important for all officials to follow the rules.
“This is a matter which is of course important for all commissioners as well as for all Commission officials,” Ms Spinant said.
“It is a matter that the president takes seriously and we expect compliance by Commission officials with those requirements which indeed we need to be alert as they are changing rapidly.”
Ms Spinant could not give an estimate of when Dr von der Leyen would conclude her assessment of Mr Hogan’s account.
On Wednesday morning, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said the Clifden event had been “an absolute disgrace” and “a slap in the face” for the public.
Mr Donnelly called on Mr Hogan to “listen to the Taoiseach and Tánaiste” and to consider resigning because of the controversy from the event.
In a statement on Tuesday night, the leaders of the three Government parties said that “concerns remain” about Mr Hogan’s movements after arriving in Ireland last month and the manner in which he has explained them.
Senior sources confirmed it remained the view of the Government that Mr Hogan should resign as commissioner, and it is understood that Dr von der Leyen is aware of this.
However, Government Buildings sources acknowledge the matter of his future is a decision for the commission president. Sources say, however, that there have been extensive contacts between officials.
The Government statement, the latest development in a controversy that has transfixed domestic politics since last week, came after a dramatic day when Mr Hogan delivered a lengthy explanation of his attendance at the controversial Oireachtas golf dinner and a timeline of his movements in the period preceding the event.
He again apologised for his attendance at the event but insisted that he did not break any health guidelines – saying that a negative Covid-19 test excused him from quarantining after arriving here from Belgium and that exemptions for essential work meant he was permitted to break the local lockdown in Co Kildare.
Mr Hogan said it was there in “black and white” on the Citizens Information website that anyone who has had a negative result in a Covid-19 test was no longer required to self-isolate.
But the Department of Health disputed this, saying this did not apply to people arriving in the country, who were required to complete their period of quarantine despite a negative test.
Other elements of Mr Hogan’s explanation have also been called into doubt. Mr Hogan dined in a public restaurant at the K Club on the night he flew into Ireland from Brussels last month, according to a woman who saw him in the restaurant.
The Leinster woman, who did not want to be named, told The Irish Times that Mr Hogan dined with two other guests at the table behind her and her husband on the night of Friday, July 31st.
“We were there for our wedding anniversary; he was seated at the table behind us with two other gentlemen,” she said.
The revelations undermine Mr Hogan’s claims on Tuesday that he flew into Ireland on July 31st and “self-isolated for the days up to the 5th of August”, when he tested negative for Covid-19 at a medical appointment in a Dublin hospital.
A spokesman for Mr Hogan had no comment to make on the July 31st dinner.
The woman who said she sat at the table next to his that night said she was “totally surprised” that Mr Hogan was now claiming that he abided by public health rules.
Another woman, Niamh Duffy, from Co Cork, said she stayed at the K Club during the first week of August and saw Mr Hogan using public areas of the resort when he should have been self-isolating.
The Irish Times has also learned that Mr Hogan made a social visit to Co Roscommon on August 17th that was not disclosed in the itinerary of his movements published by the European Commission.
It is understood Mr Hogan paid a social visit in the county on the day in which he travelled from Co Kilkenny to Co Galway via Co Kildare.
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