The European Commissioner for Trade Phil Hogan is facing mounting pressure to resign from his role, following his attendance at the controversial Oireachtas Golf Society function last week.
AgriLand hosted an impromptu online poll, which opened yesterday (Monday, August 24) and ran for circa 24 hours, whereby readers had the opportunity to have their say. It should be noted that this was an ‘open’ poll; it was open to all and sundry. In other words, it didn’t involve a ‘controlled sample’.
However, each reader (i.e. each user / IP address) could only vote once.
We’ve now closed the poll. There were well over 3,000 respondents during a relatively short time-frame.
Here (below) is the outcome…
This poll suggests that the farming community is divided on this issue – not surprising given Phil Hogan’s profile in the wider agricultural arena.
Recent events
Over the weekend both the Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar asked Hogan to respond to the ongoing controversy in greater detail and to “consider his position”.
A spokesperson for Hogan had told RTÉ on Sunday (August 23) that he will not resign. Further controversy involving Hogan came after it was widely reported that he travelled to Co. Kildare whilst the county was under lockdown. Moreover, it emerged that he was actually stopped by Gardaí in Co. Kildare for using a mobile phone in his car.
It’s since been revealed that Commissioner Hogan returned to Co. Kildare a second time before flying back to Brussels, which his spokesperson says was “not in breach” of public health guidelines.
As a former European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Hogan is especially well known to Irish farmers. However, he has previously served as a Fine Gael TD and as Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.