Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin will convene Parliament following a coronavirus-related political scandal, and has asked EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan of Ireland to consider resigning from office.

This decision responds to the storm caused this week in the political class by the revelations about the holding of a gala dinner that violated all health restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic .

The dinner, which was held on Wednesday evening to mark the Parliament Golf Club's 50th anniversary with 82 guests including Phil Hogan, has already led to the resignation of several people, including Agriculture Minister Dara Calleary .

It took place the day after the authorities decided to tighten restrictions on gatherings, prohibiting gatherings of more than six people indoors. Irish police announced on Friday the opening of an investigation into "violations" of the law.

Martin and his deputy prime minister Leo Varadkar , who heads Fine Gael , a party of which Hogan is a former member, said Saturday "that they had spoken with Commissioner Hogan and asked him to assume his responsibilities." A spokesman for Hogan replied to the RTE channel that the commissioner "was going to think about" the request.

Elected to the Irish Parliament from 1987 to 2014 and Minister of the Environment from 2011 to 2014, Hogan acknowledged attending the evening "on the basis of an understanding that the organizers and the hotel in question had ensured that they would respect the Government's instructions" . It later issued a statement to apologize, according to RTE.

But "the commissioner's apologies are late and ... he has yet to relate in detail and explain his actions," the Prime Minister's spokesman said. Martin and Varadkar "believe that the event should never have taken place," according to him.

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