Coveney dismisses call for inquiry after report finds DFA party breached Covid rules

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has dismissed Opposition calls for an independent inquiry into an event at Iveagh House during which Covid protocols were breached.

An internal report into the event in 2020, which was published on Monday, found “a breach of social distance guidance occurred” when staff at the Department of Foreign Affairs came together physically to celebrate the State’s election to the UN Security Council.

The breach was captured in a photograph taken by the then secretary general at the department, Niall Burgess, which showed a group of about 20 officials huddled in an office at the department’s headquarters, drinking bottles of sparkling wine without face coverings or regard for physical distancing.

The photograph was posted on Twitter but was subsequently removed.

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The report found the event “caused offence, inflicted reputational damage on the department and undermined internal morale”.

Mr Burgess was found to be “largely responsible for facilitating the breach of social distance guidance that occurred”. He has been asked to pay €2,000 to a charity providing assistance to people affected by Covid as a result. Three other senior officials have been asked to donate €1,000.

“I don’t see what else there is to know here,” Mr Coveney told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland on Tuesday. “Clearly this shouldn’t have happened. It was a moment of celebration that was careless.”

The Minister, who was not at the event, said he understood that people had been very annoyed by it.

Mr Coveney said that when he arrived at Iveagh House later a member of his staff told him about the photograph that Mr Burgess had tweeted. It was taken down, but not at Mr Coveney’s request, he said.

“I didn’t speak to him [Mr Burgess].

“I accept, with the benefit of hindsight, knowing what I know now, I would . . . [have spoken directly to] the secretary general [about the issue], I trusted him, this event was completely uncharacteristic,” Mr Coveney said.

Mr Coveney said it was the responsibility of Mr Burgess to deal with what he saw as a “workplace mistake”.

When asked about the independence of the review, which was carried out by the department’s current secretary general Joe Hackett, the Minister said that “any fair-minded person will view this as a fair report”.

Dáil exchanges

Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the Dáil on Tuesday he is “satisfied” with the report into the impromptu gathering at the Department of Foreign Affairs and will not be instigating an independent investigation into the incident.

During sharp exchanges with Sinn Féin deputy leader Pearse Doherty in the Dáil, Mr Martin said the gathering “pales in comparison” to the scenes at the funeral for veteran republican Bobby Storey and that there is “one law for Sinn Féin”and “a different law for everybody else”.

Mr Doherty said the internal review hadn’t interviewed Mr Coveney, as this was outside its terms of reference, but added that those terms of reference had been drafted by the Minister.

Mr Doherty asked the Taoiseach would Mr Coveney come before the Dáil this week to make a statement and answer questions.

In response, Mr Martin said that while he was not in government at the time of the incident, the gathering was “wrong, should not have happened and those who were involved have apologised”. He said he was “genuinely taken back” by Mr Doherty’s tone and attitude.

“You are the deputy leader of a party that invited almost 2,000 members and supporters onto the streets of Belfast and then for a political rally, essentially, in a cemetery at a time when . . . everybody else on the island were limited to 30 people at a funeral . . . ordinary men and women you talk about were distraught because they couldn’t attend the funeral of their loved ones,” Mr Martin said.

“To the best of my knowledge you or your organisation has never admitted that you were in the wrong in what you did, but you lecture everybody else. There’s one law for Sinn Féin, there’s a different law for everybody else when it comes to this.”

Mr Martin said the department event was “the wrong thing to do” but that public servants have given “long service to this State”.

“They’ve admitted they’re wrong and they’ve apologised for one minute of a breach of social guidance. It pales in comparison, it’s insignificant when compared to what you organised. That’s the bottom line,” he said.

Committee

Separately, the chair of the influential Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs defended the Minister for Foreign Affairs, saying that “Simon Coveney is no Boris Johnson”.

Charlie Flanagan confirmed he would invite his party colleague Mr Coveney, as well as Mr Hackett, to attend a committee meeting and answer questions about the event.

Mr Flanagan said, however, that Mr Burgess would not be called as he is no longer the accounting officer for the department.

Mr Hackett’s report on the event has been referred to the committee and it has been tabled on the agenda for its forthcoming meeting.

Mr Flanagan, a former minister for foreign affairs, said that while wrong, the event was “understandable” given it followed a successful five-year campaign to win a seat on the UN Security Council.

“My view is that we need to keep a sense of proportion and perspective. Simon Coveney is no Boris Johnson. And of course, there will be opportunities for everybody to ask questions. I’m conscious of this, of this becoming and continuing to be a political and media circus.”

He criticised Opposition parties who had branded the report a “whitewash” and insufficient.

He said that people in the photo had been criticised for not wearing masks but there was no guidance on masks at the time.

The Opposition parties have all described the report as insufficient and have called variously for an independent inquiry, Dáil statements and a committee inquiry into the event. The main criticism expressed by the four main Opposition parties is that Mr Coveney was not questioned and the terms of reference did not include his role in the events of that night.

Accountability

Earlier on Morning Ireland, Mr Doherty said Mr Coveney “did nothing” on the night when he was alerted to the breach of Covid-19 guidance and only set up an investigation to try and “bury” the issue when he was forced to.

“In my view, this Minister in particular hasn’t learned any lessons from the Katherine Zappone scandal [on the appointment of the former Independent minister as a special UN envoy], hasn’t learned any lessons in terms of accountability and it’s probably a symptom in my view that these Ministers are in government for far too long.”

Gary Gannon of the Social Democrats said his party wanted Mr Coveney and Mr Hackett to appear before the foreign affairs committee in the first instance, and then for the committee to decide if any further action was required.

“We can decide from there if there will be a need for an independent investigation,” he said.

He said he would seek reassurance that it was a once-off event and would also try to find out why €2,000 was considered as an appropriate sanction.

“How did he [Mr Hackett] come to that figure? . . . Burgess has a high wage, this is just a slap on the wrist.”

Aodhan Ó Ríordáin of Labour said it was reasonable for Mr Burgess to appear before the committee.

“I think it’s reasonable for the foreign affairs committee to investigate. We are always looking to see and look at the culture within the department.”

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy called the report a “whitewash” and took issue with the conclusion that the event was not organised, saying the presence of people there who came in despite being on leave suggested some element of organisation had occurred.