Five years ago this summer, Ireland was just five months into the Covid-19 crisis. Daily case numbers were climbing again, new restrictions had just been announced, and the country was under pressure to curb social contact. Weddings were shrinking, GAA matches were being played in empty stadiums, and pubs without food remained shut. Against this backdrop, more than eighty people gathered in the Station House Hotel in Clifden for a dinner of the Oireachtas Golf Society. The fallout from that evening would become one of the most politically explosive stories of the pandemic: Golfgate.
In this first podcast of a special two-part Newstalk Daily series, Sean Defoe is joined by the journalists who broke the story for the Irish Examiner, Aoife Moore and Paul Hosford. Together they revisit the atmosphere of mid-August 2020, recalling how rules were changing almost daily, how public trust in restrictions was fraying, and how political reporters themselves were navigating a world of remote work and constant disruption.
With archive recordings from the time, they describe what was happening inside the Station House Hotel, the seating plan that divided the room, and how word of the dinner first reached the newsroom. We hear how tips were verified, how the guest list — from ministers like Dara Calleary to judges to EU Commissioner Phil Hogan — shaped the urgency of the story, and how two reporters raced to publish before others who had also heard whispers of the event.
“Anatomy of a Scoop” takes us right up to the night of August 20th 2020, as Aoife and Paul pressed publish and went to bed, unaware of the political firestorm that would follow the next morning.
🔜 **Part 2 of this series — “Fallout” — will be available tomorrow on Newstalk.com and via the GoLoud player.
📰 Paul Hosford is Acting Political Editor of the Irish Examiner. You can follow his reporting at irishexaminer.com.
🎙️ Aoife Moore co-hosts the podcast A Few Scoops with Colm O’Regan, available now on GoLoud.
📧 We’d love to hear your reaction — email us at newstalkdaily@newstalk.com.
