Ireland rocked by coronavirus scandal’: How the Golfgate controversy made international news

The story made headlines news in the UK, the US, France and Germany.

Aug 24th 2020, 2:10 PM 69,418 Views 56 Comments S3510@tesco.iehare61 Tweet Email

AS THE COUNTRY continues to reel from the fallout of last week’s Oireachtas Golf Society dinner, news of the scandal is continuing to make international headlines.

The controversy appears to have resonated across the globe, with international media aware of the significance of public figures breaking official Covid-19 guidelines.

Most of the more recent coverage has focused on the presence of EU Commissioner Phil Hogan at the event.

The BBC is reporting today that Hogan has come under pressure to consider his position, describing him as the person who “would lead free trade negotiations with the UK if and when they commence after Brexit”.

Source: BBC

Likewise, Politico has reported in recent days that Hogan is ”standing his ground in a spiraling Irish political scandal”.

The website also informs reader’s of the Commissioner’s nickname ‘Big Phil’, describing him as a figure with a “gruff, no-nonsense political style… [with] a pedigree as a heavyweight political fixer within Fine Gael” and someone who is “not easy to budge”.

Source: Politico

Reuters UK is likewise honing in on Hogan’s efforts to “ride out calls to quit”:

Source: Reuters

Meanwhile, Sky News has led with Sunday’s announcement that the Dáil will be recalled after schools return next week, although a nod is also given to Hogan in the headline of a piece on the broadcaster’s website.

Source: Sky News

Coverage of the scandal also made it further afield in the days after news of the dinner broke.

On Friday, the New York Times – with copy from Reuters – described how Dara Calleary had resigned “the night after he and his cabinet colleagues significantly tightened nationwide restrictions to try to rein in a rise in infections”. #Open journalism No news is bad news Support The Journal

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Source: New York Times

France’s Le Parisien reported that Ireland had been “rocked by [a] coronavirus political scandal”, featuring an image of Taoiseach Micheál Martin (who wasn’t at the dinner).

Source: Le Parisien

And Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine reported how Calleary had resigned just after five weeks in Cabinet.

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