Tag Archives: Phil Hogan

By Gavan Titley

Let’s clear up the cloud of political correctness hanging over Ireland.

Phil Hogan wasn’t being racist.

First, some science. It can’t be racism because Travellers aren’t a race – it’s not like Dolce & Gabbana will make ironic, not-racist Traveller tribute earrings, is it?

So when a minister intervenes to deprive people of their social rights, solely on the basis of their identities, in a context where he ignored violence against other Traveller families, burnt out solely on the basis of their identities, well, find a word that doesn’t sound so much like an accusation.

Yes, he subsequently slandered the Carthy family as ‘anti-social’, but, if not them, right? Don’t make “just representing my constituents’ wishes” sound like “just following orders”.

Remember, racism isn’t defined by the effects of discrimination and exclusion on people’s lives. It’s defined by whether those doing the discriminating and excluding feel comfortable with their politics being ‘labeled’. And Phil just wasn’t comfortable.

While we’re at it, please note that Phil wasn’t ‘sexist’ either. When he made a ‘crude sexual insult’ to his party colleague, Anne O’Connell, leaving her ‘completely traumatised’, after which he ignored her request for an apology, we shouldn’t necessarily conclude that a dedicated supporter broke ranks because she was being too sensitive.

But Big Phil is Big. Raw, unmediated, unlike James Reilly he needs no pretty xx’s on his texts from Terry Prone. Who would want to tame the very qualities that make him such a political success?

[Darren Scully’s note to self: Travellers, not Africans]

 

Gavan Titley is lecturer in media Studies at NUI Maynooth and vice-chair of the ‘Diaspora, Migration and Media’ section of the European Communication Research Association

(Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland)

Phil Hogan at the ploughing championship [ government chief whip Paul Kehoe in background] in New Ross, Wexford, this morning, said he was entitled to make an intervention in the housing of a traveller family in his Kilkenny constituency.

And will not resign.

It’s not his ‘thing’:

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)

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 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)

Earlier: Big Phil’s Fat Gypsy Prejudice

(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)

 

Context

Phil Hogan Hangs Up On Interview About Traveller Housing (Newstalk)

Like Kevin Cardiff.

Europe needs him.

Asked about growing speculation he may be Irelands candidate for the next commission, Mr Hogan suggested such speculation was coming from Brussels.

Ah

…He said he had received no offers and stressed his commitment to serve the remainder of his term serving the Government “in Ireland”.

Oh

Hogan Accepts Talk Of Commission Job (Irish Times)

(Photocall Ireland)

No? get used to it.


The programme for government had included a commitment to establish a new waste policy which would introduce a “competitive tendering” system where collectors would bid to service an entire local authority area. Currently any private operator with a licence can offer waste collection to households.

However, political sources have confirmed that Mr Hogan intends to recommend to Cabinet today that the status quo be maintained and the private sector be allowed to operate freely in the market.

The tendering system was to have included the obligation to provide a waiver scheme to assist low-income households. It is understood that while not scrapping this principle Mr Hogan will advise his Cabinet colleagues that the measure, which would have serious cost implications, requires further exploration.

While maintaining a light touch to regulation of the private sector Mr Hogan is set to be firmer in his approach to local authorities.

…Dublin City Council is likely to be most alarmed by the new policy, having told Mr Hogan that the 600,000 tonne Poolbeg incinerator would not be viable unless local authorities could control the Dublin region’s waste.

 

Minister’s Waste Move May Hit Poolbeg (Olivia Kelly and Suzanne Lynch, Irish Times)

(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)

[Click to enlarge]

Andrew Judge writes:

As you may be aware the Department of the Environment are proposing to alter the Building Control Regulations so that architects (or another building professional such as engineers) will be required by law to sign a Certificate on completion that says:

“Notwithstanding the responsibilities of other person/s or firms/s in relation to the works, I accept  responsibility and legal liability for the inspection of all works as necessary to ensure that they are neither defective nor contravene any requirements of the Second Schedule of the Building Regulations”. (See page 13, paragraph 4 – here)

I’m sorry, but how can one person guarantee that an entire building like a hospital or fire station is perfectly built and free from defects?

Building is much more complicated than that. There’s lots of people involved, not least the Building Contractor who is not even mentioned in the Draft Building Control Regulations.

The deadline for submissions to be made to the Department of the Environment is this Thursday 24th May 2012. It is vital that every architect and engineer make themselves heard. Email your views to buildingstandards@environ.ie 

You can read more about the proposals here and here here.

Thanks.

THIS, etc.

THREE PROPERTY owners have paid between €30,000 and €40,000 through multiple liabilities for the controversial €100 household charge, Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan has confirmed. The three own between 300 and 400 properties that were liable for the charge.

Meanwhile, back in the real world…

As of noon last Friday, some 940,437 households, or 59 per cent of the estimated 1.6 million eligible, had paid the charge. Separate Department figures show that 24,098 people have paid penalties for late payment of the charge so far. These late payment penalties have raised €267,039.

 

Three property owners have paid over €30,000 in household charges (Irish Times)