Big news this evening.
EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan is to resign from his role following the controversy over his attendance at an Oireachtas Golf Society event in Clifden last week.
RTÉ’s Europe Editor Tony Connelly confirmed that Hogan will step away from his role.
A spokesman for @PhilHoganEU has confirmed Ireland's EU commissioner is resigning…
— Tony Connelly (@tconnellyRTE) August 26, 2020
Hogan had come under increasing pressure in recent days in the wake of the controversy surrounding Golfgate.
The former Fine Gael TD attended the event, which is being investigated by Gardaí for breaches in public health guidelines, along with 80 others and has been under scrutiny for his movements around the country prior to the event.
On Tuesday, at the request of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Hogan published a timeline of his stay in Ireland which showed that he did not undergo 14 days of self-isolation upon arrival to the country from Brussels, as is required from non-Green List countries.
Hogan said he had undergone a Covid-19 test during a visit to hospital and had received a negative result, and said after consulting Citizens Information, did not think he had to serve the 14-day period of self-isolation.
In a statement on Tuesday night, the government said “it is clear” that breaches of public health guidelines were made by Hogan during his visit to Ireland.
The statement added that people are “correctly angered by these actions”.
On Tuesday night, Citizen’s Information said its advice does not apply to people who must restrict their movements for 14 days when entering the state.
“Our webpage on Testing for Covid-19 covers information for people in Ireland who may need to be tested for Covid-19,” Citizen’s Information said in a statement.
“In this page, we refer to self-isolating and no longer requiring to self-isolate in the context of people who have been tested on the advice of the HSE, and does not apply to people who must restrict their movements for 14 days upon entry to the State.”
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