The leaders of the three ruling coalition parties – the leader of the party “Fianna Fail”, the prime minister Mikhail Martin, the leader of the party “Fine Gael”, the deputy prime minister Leo Varadkar and the Minister of Transport, the leader of the Green Party Eimon Raien – have reached an agreement to withdraw the lower house from the holidays.
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Members’ holidays were scheduled to run until 15 September, but it has now been decided that Parliament will have to resume its work when schooling resumes, that is, at the end of next week.
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Leaders of the three ruling parties have also urged Ireland’s representative to the European Commission, Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan, to consider resigning, as he has also taken part in the event. Hogan told RTE that he would consider the request.
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The scandal began when The Irish Examiner reported that 82 prominent people attended a parliamentary golf society dinner on Wednesday. The event was attended by several dozen members of parliament.
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In Ireland, a maximum of 50 people are allowed to gather at the event, and on Tuesday the government introduced a new restriction that gatherings are only allowed at weddings or cultural events. The new restrictions also stipulate that a maximum of six people from a maximum of three households may be at one table in a restaurant.
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Ten people sat at each table at the Golf Society’s dinner, the media reported.
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Jerry Batimer, Deputy Speaker of the Upper House of Parliament, and Dara Kaleri, the Minister of Agriculture, who have also attended the dinner, have already resigned in connection with the scandal.
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The current composition of the lower house of the Irish Parliament was elected in February this year.
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