Minister for Agriculture attends 81-person golf event in breach of health guidelines

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Isn't it great though

Varadkar gets his dream job of working with the EU
Coveney gets his dream job of working with the UN
Martin gets his dream job of being Taoiseach that everyone knows he was never cut out for
And Phil Hogan gets his dream job of being a Professional Golfer.

We're like the Make-A-Wish foundation for wealthy middle aged men.

I'm sorry now, but a man teeing off from Kilkenny and "driving" for Galway must have one hell of a fade to hit Kildare off the tee. I don't think he's going to make the grade at all.

Government:...Can we get a full account of your movements please Commissioner?

Hogan:....No

Government:....ok

The amount of fake shock and angry around this topic is embarrassing. Talk about jumping on he band wagon.

When these situations arise why is the only 'acceptable' outcome immediate resignation.
Playing golf is allowed. no issue here
Having the reception is allowed once the guidelines are followed - I don;t think they were but wasn't in the room to see what distancing was implemented
Prize giving could have taken place but no handing out prizes - put them in the post of collect else where.

Anybody that is calling for heads need to look at their own approach to covid - have they gone to a pub or restaurant that wasn't 100% abiding by the rules - if they have did they leave immediately or stay ?

I am not saying what happened was right but the fake outrage is worse in my mind - screams of this horrible cancel culture that is fast embedding itself in modern society which is scary.

magic_murph wrote: »

The amount of fake shock and angry around this topic is embarrassing. Talk about jumping on he band wagon.

When these situations arise why is the only 'acceptable' outcome immediate resignation.
Playing golf is allowed. no issue here
Having the reception is allowed once the guidelines are followed - I don;t think they were but wasn't in the room to see what distancing was implemented
Prize giving could have taken place but no handing out prizes - put them in the post of collect else where.

Anybody that is calling for heads need to look at their own approach to covid - have they gone to a pub or restaurant that wasn't 100% abiding by the rules - if they have did they leave immediately or stay ?

I am not saying what happened was right but the fake outrage is worse in my mind - screams of this horrible cancel culture that is fast embedding itself in modern society which is scary.

Comments like above put a whole new meaning on 'We're all in this together'. It is not 'fake outrage'.

We are a relatively small country. We are very sociable. A lot of us know someone who got Covid and passed away, or who was even hospitalised. There is a lot of anger out there about this. It is clearly evident.

Phoebas wrote: »

I think it was 100 prior to the changes, so that would have easily allowed for the 82 attendees and staff.

I don't know who came up with the seating arrangements, if it was the attendees themselves buying a table for 6 / 8 / 10 or the hotel, and I certainly wouldn't expect anyone but the individuals themselves to know where people were travelling from.

No.
It was 50 incl staff before the change. Had been since July, officially extended on 4th August.

Following advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) and a discussion by Cabinet this afternoon, the current limits will remain in place for at least three more weeks.

As per the government reopening roadmap, gatherings of just 50 people are allowed indoors and 200 people are allowed outdoors.

These limits were scheduled to increase on 20 July but the government put this change back until 10 August.

It’s now been confirmed that these restrictions are to be extended again, with Taoiseach Micheál Martin saying this evening that a “cautious approach” must be taken.

https://www.thejournal.ie/ireland-sport-wedding-5167638-Aug2020/.

When the event took place the limit was 6 (excluding weddings)

Due to a rise in cases of COVID-19, the following measures were announced on 18 August 2020 and will be in place until 13 September 2020:

Social visits to homes, both indoors and outdoors, should be limited to a maximum of 6 visitors from no more than 3 households
Indoor gatherings and events are now limited to 6 people from no more than 3 households
Outdoor gatherings and events are limited to 15 people
Sporting events and matches can take place behind closed doors
Restaurants and pubs that serve food have to close by 11.30pm and can have a maximum of 6 people at a table

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/health/covid19/public_health_measures_for_covid19.html#l148b3

They not only broke the new restrictions - they broke the old ones. And knew it. That was why the room was partially partitioned to pretend it was 2 separate events with less than 50 in attendance at each.

So Mickey seems to be saying if big Phil does an interview then all is good ?

billybonkers wrote: »

Would like to see the member list of the entire golf society to know who in government knew about this event

We must not lose sight of the fact that golfing/ golf outings, from my understanding, was one of the outdoor activities that was very much recommended as a fairly safe activity re the Covid virus by most medical experts , the government and Bord Fáilte.
So ,with a slight stretch of the imagination, one would assume that the orgainsers would have the necessary Covid related arrangements in place re social distancing, hand washing, etc in place AND THAT THERE WOULD BE NO NEED TO ENQUIRE into the arrangements made for the event.
One could easily assume that there might be some arrangement made afterwards for the provision of tea/ soup /sandwiches afterwards but done in a way that was Covid copmpliant. There were plenty of presidents for the presentation of prizes done ‘ remotely’ - eg school carts presented in car parks etc.
So there was really no reason for ANYONE - including MM - to suggest that the event should not have taken place. The same for the attendees - UP TO A CERTAIN POINT AND WHICH WAS LATE IN THE DAY.
I speculate that the attendees were walked into an unintended ‘ trap ‘
late in the day, when the event was coming to its climax and THAT DIVIDE WAS PULLED BACK. Only Brian Hayes came out re thinking about leaving at that point.
Before you tear the above to shreds you might first have a listen to Dr Sam McGourty - Sunday Brendan o Connor show sheer he tries to rationalize the psychological side of what happened.
We are all experts in hindsight.

The golf tournament is not the issue.
Dinnergate is.

elperello wrote: »

LV's point in the interview was that it is not the job of staff in his constituency office or civil servants in his Dail office to check up on events he is not attending.

It's not a bad point.

That's about all I can say about it unless some further information comes to light.

So what if MM , L V or anyone else who got an invite or knew about the event anyway and even intended going. They would have generally assumed that the hotel / event organizers would have behaved in a Covid compliant way. The problem arose VERY LATE TOWARDSTHE END.

maestroamado wrote: »

Enda Kenny played golf, expressed his unhappiness with dinner arrangement and went home for dinner.
Can we please ask him to lead our country and get rid of the other eejits until we can organize an election.
The fact that Kenny flagged it makes the whole thing worst in my opinion...

Did Seán O Rourke leave the country the morning after and if so , then when is he due back. When with RTE he would - as would the rest- out anyone that would not come to the phone/studio to have a conversation on a relevant matter. Being an ex reporter he is in a unique position to give his objective take on the issue

Field east wrote: »

Did Seán O Rourke leave the country the morning after and if so , then when is he due back. When with RTE he would - as would the rest- out anyone that would not come to the phone/studio to have a conversation on a relevant matter. Being an ex reporter he is in a unique position to give his objective take on the issue

Given he was in attendance I doubt if his view would be objective.

maestroamado wrote: »

Enda Kenny played golf, expressed his unhappiness with dinner arrangement and went home for dinner.
Can we please ask him to lead our country and get rid of the other eejits until we can organize an election.
The fact that Kenny flagged it makes the whole thing worst in my opinion...

Indeed, you know you're in a bad place when Enda is