Nominees for EU Commissioner

[Taytocrisps]

What do you make of the nominees? Mairead McGuinness was an obvious choice but Andrew McDowell is a dark horse. I'd have put money on it being Coveney.

Anyone who doesn't play golf

@whysorude

Do we get to keep the Trade portfolio ?

Not a chance that we will keep the Trade portfolio. Commission will be totally pissed off with the Irish govt for forcing his resignation.
It will be a minor portfolio at best.

Hogan shot in himself in the foot by going to the event, then shot himself in the head by how he handled it afterwards. Awful mistake for Ireland.

On a personal level I felt sorry for him. That interview on RTE was cringeworthy, he started digging a hole for himself and could not stop digging deeper :(

Not doing a full disclosure with a German boss is probably not a great idea either. Very bad to lose an important lose by such behaviour (both for the person, and the country).

No sympathy for the arrogant PH.
Sympathy for the good people of Ireland who have lost a voice in the Trade deals.

There’s no way Von Der Leyen would have picked Coveney over McGuinness. He probably declined to be nominated rather than be portrayed as ‘the loser’.

Andrew McDowell has a lot of EU experience so it may be a close call as to who gets it. My money is still on Mairead though.

Depressing to see every day sexism is still alive in the Irish Times, side by side profiles yet Mairead's includes a personal profile mentioning her husband and children while Andrew's is a professional profile and makes no reference to his wife and children.

@honeyrider

Depressing to see every day sexism is still alive in the Irish Times, side by side profiles yet Mairead's includes a personal profile mentioning her husband and children while Andrew's is a professional profile and makes no reference to his wife and children.

Ffs, really?

There was no way Coveney was going without the guarantee of a major portfolio. Leo won't be seen for dust when this FF shambles bites the dust and Simon's got his eye on the top job.

Don't really follow politics (I'm too cynical?), but just read the article in today's Irish edition of Sunday Times about Hogan and his boorish sexist behaviour. Awful stuff in an old boys club.

It's actually better that he is gone. I'm sure McGuinness will be a more better and more appropriate representative.

FF shambles is right
@MotherForkinShirtBalls

However , to be fair, Fine Gael haven't covered themselves in glory either because of Phil Hogan.

Nor Sinn Fein at the funeral in the North.

Am not based in Ireland but I do move in some trade law circles and PH's holey geansaí of a timeline raised a lot of eyebrows. No one over here even heard about the TDs or the Minister for Agriculture, it was all about Hogan.

A PP said it but UvdL wouldn't be upset at the Irish govt for forcing him to resign; this would be aimed more at Big Phil himself for placing his golf holiday above the Commission's twin priorities at the moment which are Covid and Brexit, and the thick eejit thought he was above the law and jeopardised both.

It's "too big to fail" mentality. Didn't work for Anglo and didn't work for Phil. Anyone remember this from Soundings? "Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!"

I've seen a lot of MMcG in the EuroParl and fwiw I think she's great. She definitely is not the type to back down when pushed and she has a lot of presence as well as a keen understanding of the issues.

Coveney has children doesn't he and he's quite the family man. I don't think he'd want to take a commission role if it would take him away from family AND rule him out of further FG leadership positions.

So MMcG got it for Financial Services.

You stupid fool PH losing Trade all because of your arrogance.

Ireland has changed.
The people won't put up with public figures thinking the rules don't apply to them.

Look on the bright side - FS is a very, very good portfolio to have. In addition to forcefulness, you also need a Commissioner who is an intellectual heavyweight.

London is the biggest financial centre in Europe with a lot of power and a strong Commissioner with that portfolio is needed more than ever, as Brexit and the post-Brexit reforms will be a dynamic area of work, not to mention all that is to come in terms of Covid recession/impact management.

If I knew this was on the table, I'd do a straight swap of PH for MMcG without even knowing of his golfing indiscretions.