Dear EU Commission

at

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Ireland’s newly-nominated European Union Commissioner Phil Hogan

Phil your boots.

February 2011 Announces plans to shut down Moriarty Tribunal.

[Hogan] is likely to be the next Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. It’s a powerful gig, all the more so in the context of Hogan’s announcement earlier this month that he intends to shut down the Moriarty Tribunal when Fine Gael gets into government.

Phil Hogan And His One Point Plan (Broadsheet)

February 2012 U-turn on septic tank charge

The Minister for the Environment has announced a dramatic reduction in the septic tank registration fee from €50 to €5 amid claims from opponents it was a clampdown and U-turn.

Hogan Cuts Septic tank registration Fee From €50 to €5 (irish Times)

March 2012 Apology for lewd remark

“He replied in a loud voice: ‘I have no problem screwing you. Hasn’t Mairtin been screwing you for years?’ Then he turned his back on me and said: ‘Business tomorrow,’ ” Ms [Ann] O’Connell, 70, said of the incident.

Phil Hogan Sorry For Lew Remark (Irish Examiner)

March 2012 Questions raised over the shutting down of six separate planning inquires by Hogan

“What happened was that inspectors were actually appointed and ready to start the inquiries by the time the new Government took over and within weeks if not, well, certainly within months of Phil Hogan taking over as Minister for the Environment, those inquiries were terminated and the inspectors were stood down. And even in advance of the general election, Phil Hogan had actually said that the allegations were spurious mostly. But how did he know that they were spurious when they weren’t even being investigated? And the termination of those investigations, it seems to me, runs exactly counter to one of the principle recommendations of the Mahon Tribunal.”

Frank McDonald, Irish Times Environment Correspondent, speaking on RTÉ’s Frontline.

April 2012  Grants Lowry a post-Moriarty Meeting

 The minister met with Mr Lowry six days after the Moriarty report’s release in Mar 2011 and after calls by the Taoiseach for the TD to step down.

Hogan And Lowry Met After Moriarty Finding (Irish Independent)

April 2012 ‘Bumped into Denis O’Brien’

“He did briefly bump into Denis O’Brien. They bumped into each other and exchanged pleasantries. They spoke for a matter of moments,” a spokesperson said.

Denying The O’Brien/Hogan Meeting (Story.ie)

April 2012 The ‘Would U Ever Relax And Feed The Children’ text.

The Kilkenny woman told how kids are going hungry as cash-strapped families scrimp to pay the hated €100 tax. But she was stunned when a reply from Hogan’s personal mobile said: “Would u ever relax. And feed the children.”

Enda To Probe Rude Text By Hogan (The Irish Sun)

April 2012 Refuses to pay service charges on holiday home.

Mr Hogan, who has an apartment in Villamoura on the Algarve, has an outstanding service charge of €4,320, according to a ‘debtors’ list document

 Phil Hogan- Refuses To Pay 4k Service Charges On His Portugal- Holiday Penthouse (irish Independent)

July 2012 The ‘Soft Loan’ from Irish Nationwide

Hogan’s unorthodox loans were personally approved by Fingleton to allow him buy a pied-a-terre house in Dublin 4 and a luxurious penthouse in Portugal using two interest-only loans of at least a decade each, an aggressive equity release, and what appears to have been, for his final loan, minimal paperwork.

Nationwide’s ‘Soft’ Loan To Hogan (Independent.ie)

September 2013 The letter assuring constituents that a Traveller family would not be housed close to them

Phil Hogan assured some of his constituents that a Traveller family would not be moved into their area. A letter sent from his constituency office to residents at a townland in Co. Kilkenny in May read: ‘Just a note to let you know that the Carthy family will not be allocated that house in your area.’ The message, written in the Environment Minister’s name and bearing his colour photograph, was signed on his behalf by a secretary. It read: ‘Kindest regards, Phil Hogan, Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.’

Irish Daily Mail [not online]

May 2014 The case of former Irish Independent journalist Eimear Ní Bhraonáin

Ms Ní Bhraonáin, who is taking a constructive dismissal case against the Irish Independent, had the story about Phil Hogan and the Carthy family but alleges the Irish Independent didn’t publish it for ten days and only did so when it learned the Irish Daily Mail was going to publish it. The Phoenix magazine reported Ms Ní Bhraonáin was asked to investigate a dossier of alleged minor crimes pertaining to Mr Carthy, after the Irish Independent received the dossier “from somewhere in the Kilkenny area”. Mark Tighe, in the Sunday Times reported how Ms Ni Bhraonain alleges there was political interference with her story. Mr Tighe reported:

Ní Bhraonáin will claim that when she asked Independent desk staff about the paper’s attitude, it was implied that the newspaper was ‘friendly’ towards Hogan.

‘Friendly Towards Hogan’ Broadsheet

(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)

 

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34 thoughts on “Dear EU Commission

    1. cluster

      Have a glass of wine on a business trip is no crime, nor is hugging his press secretary.

      There are plenty of questions around Hogan without resorting to crap circumstantial stuff like that.

          1. Drogg

            Official business isn’t the place to be behaving like that and going by his long list of despicable deeds, are you honestly saying there is nothing going on with this?

          2. rotide

            Behaving like what?

            This was done to death at the time. The man is allowed have a glass of wine with and after dinner for gods sake. You have NO Idea whats going on at the time that picture was taken

            stop being such a daily star reader.

    2. WhoAreYa

      Absolutely pathetic – what the hell is wrong with you?

      What business is of you or me what he does during his off time or is he supposed to work 24 hours a day?

      Why not stick to the policy measures he implemented or the other long list of subjective assessments rather than going down in the filthy sewer along with the Daily Mail?

      1. Drogg

        He was on an official government trip, he was part of the releasing of one of the most devastating budgets this country has seen while he was doing this and it also is a perfect example of his character. I deem it appropriate to add.

        1. WhoAreYa

          What is a perfect example of his character? That he drinks wine? That he cuddles his secretary? This is intriguing, go on

          1. Drogg

            Well personally when i am on a business trip i don’t deem it appropriate for me to booze it up and cuddle with my secretary, also isn’t it against employment laws to be romantically involved with people you employ, isn’t that an abuse of power?

            A perfect example of his character because while the rest of us where being squeezed by that budget, big phil was off on a jolly on all our expense.

          2. rotide

            God you’re an idiot Drogg.

            Stop throwing out the assumptions and half baked legal theories.

            As for his budget, yes EVERY newly elected governments top priority is a harsh budget, the voters just love that.

            You can’t for a second accept there is a reason for a harsh budget? Blame the jokers that caused the mess.

          3. Drogg

            rotide I’m not attacking Fine Gael even though I’m not their biggest fan and I don’t know why where dragging FF into it because we all know how much they F**ked up this country and left us in mountains of debt, but that budget targeted all the wrong groups in society and according to most economists I’ve read they have slowed down the economic recovery of Ireland.

  1. EBS

    He’s no1 on my most hated Irish Politicians list. Thank God he’s not minister for our environment anymore.

  2. PeteS

    I’ve never seen a politician so universally disliked be supported so much by a party. Either FG are unbelievably disconnected or he must have a filing cabinet full of grubby secrets on all FG politicians.

    1. Kieran NYC

      “I’ve never seen a politician so universally disliked be supported so much by a party.”*

      *since Shatter, Gerry Adams, Biffo, etc, etc.

      Party before country, always.

  3. Ray Luna

    Seriously Broadsheet, not even an attempt of balance?
    You could also say:
    He brought the local government system into modern times with the reform of local councils – getting rid of about 600 councillors in the process.
    He took action on our polluted groundwater by introducing septic tank regulations in the first place. (long fingered by the Greens in office)
    Effectively banned corporate donations
    Introduced gender quotas for the next general election in an attempt to break the old boys club in the Dail
    But perhaps most importantly began the task of broadening our tax base with the introduction of property taxes and water charges (common in almost every developed country that didn’t suffer a calamitous fiscal collapse)

    You don’t introduce reform on this scale and expect to be liked, and in Ireland’s case expect to be treated fairly. SF’s antics on his nomination to EU Commissioner are nothing more than self-serving inward looking political games that will do this country no good.

    1. Ray Luna

      You mean the one caused by the lack of building standards of the previous Government, solved by this Government, and Phil Hogan bringing in new building regulations this year to make sure it can’t happen again? That Priory Hall?

      1. Kolmo

        There was a time before ‘the previous government’ that FG had plenty of opportunity to correct what you are stating, having been in plenty of previous Governments…

        change the script.

        1. Ray Luna

          Standards dropped during the ‘boom’ years in which Priory Hall was built. I don’t recall any other buildings being forcibly evacuated by the fire authorities before then.

          All I’m saying is that this is the type of single sided abuse driven stuff that some sites seem to commercialise.

          1. bw

            read the article linked Ray

            Hogan had it in his remit to deal with the situation but ignored it to the extent he was making public statements about court cases and reports that didn’t exist until the taoiseachs office had to take control of the situation

            he didn’t create it but was a key actor in prolonging it and costing the state millions more

          2. Kolmo

            What are you talking about – the statements in the above article are in the public domain, it is not a case of one side against another side – unless it’s the voter/tax payer/citizen vs the politician – the wounded innocence act fools no one. Next you’ll be crying about the tone, or the obtuseness of the language that offends you..

        2. cluster

          Not true, Kolmo. The FF govt. rolled back enforcement of building regulations, allowing builders to ‘self-certify’ despite the fact that builders have historically had a high rate of bankruptcy.

  4. Kolmo

    Good job Broadsheet.ie. What is it with the Irish voter? Are they just going from one bad relationship to another, like a person with self-esteem so low you could wipe your shoes on them..

  5. porch

    The new building control regulations won’t stop another Priory Hall from happening again. The regulations have actually done the following:
    (a) stopped self builders building their own home
    (b) increased the cost on developers and people who want to build their own home
    (c) put unreasonable liability on professionals signing off on developments
    (d) failed to introduce 3rd party independent inspections.

    This government/Phil Hogan have solved nothing, but have in fact made a mess of the construction industry which had started to show signs of recovery.

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