Kilkenny Councillor Patrick O’Neill says local FG members will never forgive Leo Varadkar for his treatment of Phil Hogan

Local Fine Gael members won’t forget how Phil Hogan was treated by their party leader.

Kilkenny Councillor Patrick O’Neill  says they cannot ignore the call that came from the Tánaiste for the former EU Commissioner to consider his position.

He says for a large base of the membership locally, there’s no coming back from this for Leo Varadkar:

“Phil Hogan was one of the most respected Carlow-Kilkenny Fine Gael politicians in a long, long time”

Meanwhile the Taoiseach Michéal Martin has said he doesn’t believe former EU Commissioner Phil Hogan was treated like a criminal after the Golfgate dinner.

“The issue that Phil has raised is one between the European Commission and Phil himself”

But another local Councillor Michael Doyle says the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste should apologise to the Kilkenny man:

“I would think both Michéal Martin and Leo Varadkar owe Phil, at the very least an apology for asking him to consider his position”

But another Fine Gael Councillor David Fitzgerald says Phil Hogan has to take responsibility for his own actions:

“We should all be prepared to accept when we make mistakes. Phil Hogan is no different”

Councillor Fitzgerald says he believes an apology at the time would have seen him kept his job:

“If he had done that in the first, in my view, he would still be Commissioner today”

Hear their conversation in full with our Sue Nunn on The Way It Is here: