The fallout from last week's Oireachtas Golf Society dinner event continues – with former TD and senator Donie Cassidy resigning as vice president of Fianna Fáil following mounting criticism.

"In light of the ongoing controversy surrounding the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner in Clifden, and due to the fact that the matter is subject to a garda investigation, I tendered my resignation as Leas Úachtaráin of Fianna Fáil to Sean Dorgan General Secretary yesterday," Cassidy noted in a statement.

In a statement issue on Friday evening to the Westmeath Examiner, Cassidy, the president of the Oireachtas Golf Society, noted that the event was held "under the department guidelines confirmed to us on Wednesday morning by the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF)."

He went on to "apologise unreservedly on behalf of the Oireachtas Golf Society Committee for the hurt caused", and said he "will fully cooperate with the Garda investigation".

Cassidy initially came to prominence in Ireland through the showband scene – playing with Jim Tobin and the Firehouse Five. He also previously managed T.R. Dallas of 'Who Shot J.R. Ewing?' fame, as well as duo Foster and Allen, who had a hit with 'A Bunch of Thyme'.

What has become known as ‘golf-gate’ has already claimed the scalps of a number of senior Irish political figures, including the recently appointed Minister for Agriculture, Dara Calleary, and the Leas Ceann Chomhairle of the Seanad, senator Jerry Buttimer. There have been calls for the resignation of the former Attorney General Seamus Wolfe, who was appointed a High Court judge earlier this year, and the EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan – the latter amid reports that he was also stopped by a Garda for allegedly talking on his mobile phone while driving.

The Taoiseach Micheál Martin and the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar have both asked Phil Hogan to 'consider his position’. The Taoiseach said this morning, speaking on RTÉ, that he is very angry about the controversy and has asked the EU Commissioner to give an account of the full sequence of events. Three has been a suggestion in media reports that Phil Hogan visited his apartment in Kildare to collect papers before driving on to Galway for the Clifden golf event.

Among those who have called for Phil Hogan to resign is the Minister for Housing, Dara O’Brien, who is a Fianna Fáil TD.

On Sunday, a spokesperson for the EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that she had requested Commissioner Hogan to provide a full report with details of the event. "It is important,” she added, "that facts are established in detail to carefully assess the situation.”

Revisit our 2007 interview with Donie Cassidy here.