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It’s a shame that former EU Commissioner Phil Hogan couldn’t make it to Glenties this year for MacGill’s annual wind festival.
We all know how Big Phil likes to go out when he’s back in Ireland.
But he seems to have recovered well after his disastrous summer golf odyssey through Ireland, the pure highlight of which would have been that he would have won a George Foreman grid at the Oireachtas Golfgate Society’s Covid outing in Connemara, had he not ended up losing his work. in Europe at the end of it all. He was in good shape handing over his web address to the dingy “summer” school of politics that has migrated online this year.
Hogan’s pleasant mood was commendable given events in Brussels involving his former boss, Ursula von der Leyen, and her wanderings around during a pandemic, though it was supposed to be self-isolation.
Big Phil has good reason to be aggrieved at having to resign his position as trade commissioner for attending the golf dinner. In accepting his resignation, the EC president said that she hoped that the members of the commission “will be particularly attentive to compliance with applicable national or regional norms or recommendations.”
Last week, von der Leyen abruptly left Thursday’s European Council meeting to go into self-isolation because a member of his staff had tested positive for Covid. But while it was in quarantine, it completely disappeared from the radar. There is no news on his whereabouts.
This week, journalists in Brussels finally managed to solve the mystery of the missing Ursula, taking advantage of information from a spokesperson who sounds vague. The commission president lives in the Berlaymont building in Brussels, but fled to her hometown of Hannover, a five-hour drive from Belgium, through the Netherlands and on to Germany. This was not disclosed to the media.
His spokesman insisted that von der Leyen followed all the rules and entered “preventive self-isolation” which is not the same as quarantine. He left the EU summit moments before he was due to update heads of government on the Brexit talks with the UK out of “great caution” and to protect the other leaders, an action that would indicate a level of concern about his situation. . .
Apparently von der Leyen, who tested negative for the virus, traveled to Hanover in an official car with the precautionary measures in place. The spokesperson is not sure when he will return.
Big Phil must be wondering why Brussels didn’t understand his plight as much.
Never mind. He is now looking for other avenues of employment, he told Professor Brigid Laffan, who interviewed him online from Italy.
But Phil is in no rush.
His last shift at MacGill was in 2018. “A lot has changed since then, and certainly 2020 has been a year like no other, not least for me!” joked.
At the end of the session, the Florence-based academic asked the former commissioner what he plans to do next.
There seems to be more golf on the horizon. Big Phil is taking “a little breather” for the first time in 38 years and does nothing for the rest of the year.
But the phone hasn’t stopped ringing.
With his invaluable network of political contacts and world-class international experience, he knows he is a marketable product.
“I have had many contacts from all over the world from various people who wanted to talk to me. All I advised them was to do their introductions and I’ll take a look at them, but not until January 1, 2021. “
It is not for nothing that he is not known as Humility Hogan.
“So if you know someone in the Italian region, Brigid, interested in a man with enormous experience and a good address book, I am your man.”
Micheál’s policy guru makes the move across the Liffey
Wanted a political expert on Merrion Street.
He must be able to get along with the people of Cork.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin is a man in his inner circle after the departure of Fianna Fáil’s special adviser and head of research, Kevin Dillon, who is going to work for the Minister of Housing, Darragh O’Brien. Dillon was a key member of the party’s negotiating team after the last two general elections, and it came as no surprise when Martin appointed him an adviser after landing the top job.
Dillon, a politician, a native of Kildare, will be very interested in the upcoming US presidential elections, as he was interned on Capitol Hill in his youth in the office of then-Senator Barack Obama.
Persuading him to cross the Liffey from government buildings to Customs was a smart move by the Minister: Dillon graduated from TCD with a first-class BA in History and Politics before moving on to UCD to complete his Masters in Regional and Urban Planning. Last year, when O’Brien was a party spokesperson on housing, he decided to write a book in collaboration with Dillon on home ownership in Ireland, but when he presented the idea to publishers, it was rejected.
Obviously, it was a mere coincidence that Darragh came up with the idea of producing his housing tome based on the well-received book on social housing sold by Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin.
Terrible bad luck on the time front for Darragh, even if some people cruelly thought that Eoin’s successful work might have had something to do with his decision to put out a version of Fianna Fáil and his subsequent failure to publish it.
“Kevin knows his home from the inside out,” admitted a colleague at Government Buildings. “It was a good poaching for Darragh, but we will miss him here.”
Also on the move is former Fine Gael Minister Paudie Coffey, who lost her Waterford seat in 2016 and landed a Seanad Éireann seat as one of Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s nominees. Last December he announced that he would be leaving politics after 20 years to spend more time with his family.
Paudie was involved in a high-profile legal action the previous year when he sued the Town of Kilkenny for defamation for an article published during the 2016 election campaign with comments from party colleague John Paul Phelan, who had issued a press release comparing him to an infamous eighteenth. – thief of the last century of the area in a row by changes of boundaries in its contiguous districts.
The jury was unable to reach a verdict and the case was subsequently resolved.
Coffey joined forces with his former adviser Paul Fox when he was a junior housing minister and established Pinnacle Public Affairs, “a new consulting firm combining more than 30 years of experience in public affairs, public policy development and implementation, and strategic communications.” . . Fox went on to work as a special advisor to Helen McEntee when she was Minister of State for Europe.
“Based in Ireland, Pinnacle Public Affairs has an extensive network at the local and national government level in Ireland and at the EU level. Founded by former Irish Minister Paudie Coffey and Irish Government Advisor Paul Fox, the company aims to meet our clients’ goals: understand their goals; develop customized solutions; and targeting the right audiences for maximum success. “
Somehow I don’t think they’re going to get John Paul Phelan to help them write press releases.
Wrote the book on Irish politics
Still on the subject of books, our former political editor Stephen Collins has written another.
Our Noble Struggle is a riveting tale of Irish socialism and Republican activism with an engaging foreword by Gerry Adams and the resounding endorsement of Paul Murphy and Ruth Coppinger on the dust jacket.
Just kidding!
Save the State – Fine Gael from Collins to Varadkar is co-written by Collins and historian Ciara Meehan, who is a leading authority on the party.
Told through the lens of its leaders and Taoisigh (former Taoiseach, current Tánaiste and Taoiseach-in-waiting Leo Varadkar has a lot to say), Saving the State chronicles the wild years and achievements in government, the defeats and crises, the partnerships and leadership revolts that have shaped Fine Gael over the decades.
Dr. Dave has approved it.
“A superb, enlightening, and unbiased look at the ups and downs of Fine Gael’s turbulent history,” writes historian David McCullagh, author of De Valera: Rise and De Valera: Rule. He also enjoys a moonlit night on RTÉ, co-hosting Six-One News with Caitríona Perry.
Irish Times columnist Collins has written numerous books on Irish political history, including The Cosgrave Legacy, Spring and the Labor Party, The Haughey Files, and Breaking the Mold: How the PDs Changed Irish Politics.
Ciara Meehan is a history reader and associate dean at the University of Hertfordshire and her books include The Cosgrave Party: a History of Cumann na nGaedheal, 1923-33 and A Just Society for Ireland? 1964-1987.
Saving the State hits stores starting Thursday (the ones that are open) and is available now at your favorite local online bookstores, who need all the support they can to stay afloat in this terrible time for retailers.
No hands on water due to Covid
The list of victims of the pandemic continues to grow.
Give a thought to all the TDs and senators who are members of the many inter-parliamentary friendship groups at Leinster House. These are the mini-committees of Dáil and Seanad members that foster camaraderie relations with politicians from other parliaments around the world.
Usually there would be one or three trips involved, all in the cause of finding facts and fostering further understanding. Canada, China, New Zealand, Spain, Russia, Croatia, Iran, Australia. . . Many of them.
But travel abroad is not allowed for the foreseeable. It is a pity.
It was a surprise to us that the Irish-American Parliamentary Friendship Group was created last year. Needless to say, Kerry-based Senator Mark Daly, leader of the Irish-Americans on Capitol Hill, was a landmark in its establishment. The body serves as a link between the Oireachtas and the United States Congress and has two convenors, one from Seanad and the other from Dáil.
Fianna Fáil’s TD Paul McAuliffe and Fianna Fáil’s Sen. Malcolm Byrne were named Irish co-convenors this week, filling the vacancies left by former TD Frances Fitzgerald, who is now an MEP, and Daly, who was elected Seanad Cathaoirleach earlier. of this year.
Or Speaker Daly, as he’s known in DC.
The US co-convenors are Congressmen Richie Neal and Peter King. With the will of Covid, Neal will come to Ireland next year at the invitation of the Oireachtas.
McAuliffe and Byrne are no strangers to American politics. The two Fianna Fáilers first met in 2007 at a Boston College Young Political Leaders program, spending time between Boston and Washington DC.
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