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LAST UPDATE | 1 Sep 2021
KATHERINE ZAPPONE ASKED Leo Varadkar if he had “heard anything” about her prospective appointment as a UN Special Envoy while reminding him about her event at the Merrion Hotel.
Text messages between the Tánaiste and Katherine Zappone detail their conversations about the event, including whether it was “definitely legal”.
Meanwhile, texts between Varadkar and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney show that the Tánaiste texted the minister to ask if he “knew anything” about Zappone taking on the envoy role.
On 15 July, the Tánaiste texted the former Children’s Minister Zappone, who moved to New York after stepping down from politics, to remark that he heard she was in Dublin.
Zappone confirmed that she was and said: “Would of course love to see you and a reminder about my reception in Merrion on next Wed, 5.30-7pm on the Terrace.”
“If you can’t make that, we could find another time? Or to see you reception plus separate time,” she wrote, with an emoji face wearing sunglasses between “or” and “to”.
The following day on 16 July, Zappone texted Varadkar to ask: “I was expecting to hear from Simon C about my appointment as Special Envoy for Human Rights and Lgbtq+ issues. Have you heard anything?”
“If you around next Wed, hope to see you and Matt!”
Varadkar sent a series of short texts in response, saying: “Nope. Can make it to the Merrion. Is it definitely legal? Probably ok. Organised outdoor gathering of fewer than 200 people?”
Zappone said “yes, it is 50 people outdoors and The Merrion has confirmed it is compliant”, to which Varadkar said “see you then”.
In a separate text conversation on 19 July, Varadkar texted Coveney: “Hi. Seeing Katherine Zappone on Wednesday. Do you know anything about her becoming our LGBT envoy?”
Coveney said “yeah, I spoke to Katherine tonight”.
He said she was meeting with Niall Burgess, general secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, that Wednesday to “finalise a 12 month contract to be an Irish Govt Special Envoy for ‘Freedom of Expression and Human Rights’ with a focus on LGBT”.
“She seems very happy. I plan to have it in a memo for Govt next week.”
On the day of the event, 21 July, Zappone texted Varadkar: “Just reminding you about reception this eve in the Merrion from 5.30 to 7pm – I will saw a few words at 6ish.”
She said she had met with management at the hotel to review Covid-19 protocols.
Varadkar replied: “Will be over. Might not be until a bit after 6 though. Where in Merrion is it?”
Zappone said: “Great! I will wait for you to speak, unless you get a lot delayed. On the Terrace – Just outside of main entrance.”
The release of the texts from Varadkar has come hours after Coveney, the Cabinet minister who spoke to Zappone about the role, said that he clears his phone on a regular basis because it has previously been hacked.
“I’ve been hacked and I’m Minister Foreign Affairs and Defence, so I think it is prudent that I clear my phone quite regularly,” Coveney told reporters earlier today.
Coveney appeared before an Oireachtas committee yesterday to face questions about the special envoy appointment, where he said that Zappone did not lobby him for the role.
In a statement today, a spokesperson for the Tánaiste said that Varadkar was “contacted by Ms Zappone on the 16th of July as she was visiting Dublin”.
“She mentioned that she could be taking up a new role as special envoy. The Tánaiste wasn’t aware of the appointment and contacted Simon Coveney about it for information as he knew he was likely to meet Ms Zappone later that week,” the spokesperson said.
“Minister Coveney confirmed that his Department had been in discussions with Katherine on the role and that a memo would be brought to cabinet prior to any appointment being made. The Tanaiste made no further inquiries about the matter,” they said.
The spokesperson said that Zappone and the Tánaiste discussed the role “briefly” on 21 July at the event in the Merrion Hotel.
“The full details of the appointment were not made available until the day of Cabinet the meeting on the 27th of July when Minister Coveney brought the proposal to the meeting,” they said.
“The Tánaiste has accepted that this should have been flagged by him to the Taoiseach and the Leader of the Green Party in advance at the Leaders meeting, the day before the cabinet meeting and an apology has been made. There should be no surprises in a coalition government.”
They said that Varadkar has no other texts between himself and Zappone or Coveney on the matter.
Katherine Zappone
In late July, former minister Katherine Zappone was appointed to a new role of UN Special Envoy for freedom of opinion and expression.
Ministers approved the appointment when Coveney brought a memo to a Cabinet meeting that followed discussions between him, Zappone, and his department.
The role had not been publicly advertised, leading to concerns about transparency and objectiveness around the appointment process.
A few days before her appointment, Zappone hosted an event at the Merrion Hotel in Dublin which came under scrutiny.
At the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence yesterday evening, Coveney said that Zappone reached out to him last summer after she stepped down from politics to say that she would be available to help in any way with Ireland’s work with the EU.
In February, Coveney asked his department’s secretary general whether Zappone could be of use, and Coveney later asked Zappone whether she would be interested in the UN special envoy role.
In relation to the event at the Merrion, Coveney told the committee he “did get a text telling me that it was on but I didn’t have a formal invitation or anything”.
Zappone ultimately said that she would not be accepting the role.
Reaction
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s Drivetime after the release of the texts, Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty said that “the core of this here is that this was a made-up job paid out of the public purse and appointed by Fine Gael and we can see very clearly here that she reached out to the leader of Fine Gael asking ‘did you hear anything about my appointment’.”
Doherty said it was “the way politics should not be happening”.
He said it was unacceptable that the text messages had not previously been made available when they were requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) by journalists and members of the public.
“I myself looked for the text messages from Simon Coveney in an FOI on the 30th of July,” Doherty said.
“We’ve had journalists who’ve made requests looking for these texts, that have now been released by Leo Varadkar, through Freedom of Information [and were] responded back to to say that these texts do not exist despite the fact that the FOI officer had spoken directly with members of the Tánaiste’s staff.”
He said that ministers should be sending copies of messages dealing with governmnet business on personal phones to severs in their department to keep a record of the communication.
Fine Gael TD David Stanton said that Zappone was “famously Independent” and that she “fought for the rights of minorities in this country for a long long time”.
Stanton said he thought Zappone would have “done a great job” as UN Special Envoy for Freedom of Expression.
He rejected “any notion that this was a stitched-up job”.
In a statement, Sinn Féin spokesperson for foreign affairs John Brady called on Simon Coveney to appear before the Oireachtas committee again in light of the information in the text messages.
Brady, who was among the TDs to question the minister yesterday, has written to the chair of the committee to ask that Coveney be formally asked to return.
He suggested that Coveney’s account has “holes” – saying, for one, that Coveney “claimed that he ‘did not speak to her when she was in Dublin’. However, in a text message exchange from July 19th that the Tánaiste published this evening, Minister Coveney in fact confirmed to his party leader that he had spoken to Katherine Zappone that very night”.
Brady said the minister must “set the record straight”.
With reporting by Christina Finn
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I’m glad Leo has done this, the transparency is in everyone’s interest and hopefully Simon Coveney will do the same.
His excuses so far of deleting every exchange from Zappone and being so forgetful he can’t even remember the date or content of the message is not only leading to further suspicion but is an actual FOI offence considering he’s required to maintain a copy of professional interactions.
@Rochelle: Simon has already “accidentally” deleted the chat with Katherine.
@EvErYtHiNg ArSeNaL: Messages have to be stored on the carriers servers for several years but may also be backed up to the cloud. Either way they’re retrievable and he’s required to produce them for FOI.
Coveney needs to cut the nonsense at this stage and come clean, the last few days have been an embarrassment for him and greatly damaging to his reputation.
@Rochelle: This is not transparency. These are screen grabs he volunteered himself. No way of knowing what he hasn’t shown us.
@Vonvonic: That logic could be used anywhere. “Ah, but what else is there? What hasn’t he told us? What could he be hiding?” This comes under Rumsfeld’s ‘Unknown unknowns’. Get a grip.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: No. By my logic; someone who’s being accused or suspected of something shouldn’t get to decide what evidence is extracted from their phones. You get a grip. That’s called a charade.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: Leo is a proven li@r and has form for trying to lie his way out of trouble. We have good reason to be suspicious of anything he says.
@Rochelle: These are not transparent, they can be easily “shopped”. Like an email, there are unique IDs along with travel info, that can be traced back to the carrier. Without that info, this should not be considered proof.
@Rochelle: ………………..Transparency. ………………………… Clearly Reads……..
……………………………………………………Any word on me Handy Number
@EvErYtHiNg ArSeNaL: Perhaps check Katherine’s or Leo’s phones for the texts. Unless they too were hacked and deleted the same texts.
@Rochelle: we need to see all the communications to have a clear picture.
Publish all documents!
I love how the worries of our givt ministers are eased simply because the Merrion declared the event to be “definitely legal”. The visually-challenged leading the willfully-blind.
@Dave O’Doherty: Firstly, it is the event hosts that are primarily responsible for the legality of their event – so it would be correct to check that. Secondly, Varadkar quite clearly self-verified with “organized outdoor gathering under 200″.
Seems like some might be just intent on moaning..
@Paul Tao: Sorry there Leo…
@Paul Tao: Any update on the garda investigation concerning Varadkar’s leaking of confidential state documents. As for moaning it took the Attorney General to verify the guidelines to get Varadkar off the hook. Wonder why such a powerful group The Irish Hotels federation never understood the guidelines that the A.G. stated were in place all along.
Ah the craic is mighty!!!!
@Darren Mc Mahon: in the Isle of man half
@Darren Mc Mahon: this is the greatest scandal in the history of the state. An ex Minister looking for a twelve month part time job from the government. We need a tribunal of inquiry to sort it out and get to the bottom of it. I wouldn’t be surprised if Zappone turned out to be a CIA agent. But the tribunal must report back in less than three years so we know the full picture before the next election.
@Ciaran O’Mara: Can’t wait for the film
@Mickety Dee: thinking Paul Greengrass, he would give it a gritty feel.
@Ciaran O’Mara: this whole story is boring. Who cares if a minister created a new role and fills it with a person who is clearly the perfect candidate? Nobody! The whole story was just to fill a slow news cycle.
@Homes: he made an expensive makey uppy job on the back of tax payers money for his mate,any other European country and he would be sacked already.Not to mention lying through his teeth about it exual
@Brian Burns: lots of politicians get jobs organised by their political mates for which they have no basic experience and no one commented on them at the time. This is pure time wasting hypo_crisy. We deserve better from our Opposition and our Media. If Coveney had a shred of wit he would have come clean, and faced down everyone. But he is just a pumped up, self loving bore without a backbone and no political nous who talks non_sense for a living.
If ever there were staged conversations this is it
@Connor Coady: Everything’s a conspiracy.
Admit it, there’s no evidence that you could see that would dissuade you from your beliefs
@Paul Tao: Admit it your a FG supporter, cause only they could defend this debacle.
@Aileen Lawlor: Evidence and reasoning changes my beliefs on matters. What changes yours?
Not everything is a conspiracy. Blowing your mustard on this storm in a teacup negatively diminishes actual genuine controversies. Because then it’s a case of “oh this is probably just more fake controversy”.
Choosing battles for something genuine is important in politics.
The Cosy Cartel…..
@Paul Somers: Explain? Why is this a cartel (cosy or otherwise)?
@sean o’dhubhghaill: FF/FG were once one party they quickly realised that unless they did something drastic the opposition party would be elected as they were failing as a government. They proceeded to split the party and claim they were two different parties with different ideals and visions for Ireland. He presto we got our cartel they control the narative which ever cheek of the arse is in the seat of power. Eventually the public realised this and dumped the two of them low and behold suddenly they were compatible again anything to hold on to the perks and cushy numbers they have aquired over the last hundred years. Cartel is the perfect word to describe the politicians of FF/FG.
@Seanboy: They separated from each other because of a civil war. The only other opposition at the time was labour, which wasn’t likely to take power.
@Seanboy: also. What an appalling understanding of basic Irish history.
Not a timestamp in sight… Lol who does leo think he’s fooling.
Where are the dates and times on theses ?
Plus they contradict what Leos spokesperson said.
Spokesperson said that Zappone contacted Leo on 15th as he heard that she was in Dublin and she mentioned she ‘could’ be taking up new role.
Texts show Leo texted Zappone and she asked if he knew anything about her ‘appointment’.
As many holes in this as his feeble excuses for leaking of the confidential info. Why would anyone have any loyalty to Leo, as soon as it might get a little rough for Leo he always throws someone else under the bus.
‘Is it definitely legal?’ If you have to ask the question in the first place then you know you are skating on thin ice.
The UN is over represented in LGBTQ representation. They need people to represent the heterosexual issues.
@Tom Mullally: that just makes no sense
I feel like all ministers call logs and text messages should be archived daily and accessible to the public.
The phones are the property of the state and any data they contain is also the property of the state.
@Sequoia: It is not possible to delete messages. They can be retrieved if there is sufficient will to do so. Coveney should tell us the truth and get it over with. Fast.
No dates no times in the shots are they really having a laugh
He hasn’t done this out of any interest in transparency, he’s done it to show up Coveney and his nonsense… and it’s worked. Simple-Simon’s ruined his reputation over it…
Ah the knives are out! No way Leo is giving up leadership without a scrap!
SHENANIGANS
@Bernard Mc Donnell: Utter Shenanigans!!!
Of course it’s all above board.
Not even time or date on the texts. Could have been sent any time. Cop on
Straight under the bus with you Simon , Leo fears a mutiny in the ranks and Coveny would love to be leader of FF
@Mick Gannon: why would Coveney want to lead FF? Where’s the evidence for that?
Don’t they make the laws? How is anyone supposed to know what’s “definitely legal” if these cIowns don’t.
Listened to the minister for defending FG before loyalty to Country and defence barrister for Simon Coveney, dig an even deeper hole for politicians on RTE. Someone that nobody has probably ever heard of, a David Stanton. Couldn’t see the colour of his shirt. It was a masterclass in trying to change the subject, shouting down any questions asked, spreading the blame so thinly that he hopes it might evaporate and proof that honesty is a rare quality in politics. Trump would have being proud. FG communications dept have surpassed themselves. All the ducks singing off the same hymn sheet
A farce as per usual from a joke of a government
Two Muppets have to resign. Are we not tired of this endless circus/masquerade?
This is gone beyond normal politics and every day brings more damage but them seem to feel great and cant comprehend at all.
“…she wrote, with an emoji face wearing sunglasses between “or” and “to”.”
What utterly irrelevant information
Times and dates for these texts should be made public under FOI. And then the respective network carriers should be made to confirm the time line between each phone of when the texts where sent/received. With out this info the screen grabs mean nothing. If they don’t offer the info freely well it really would show the contempt these self serving A-holes have got for the public’s intelligence.
Leo has thrown his deputy under the bus
They couldnt lie straight in the bed
God who seriously cares if he went to a bloody party. As if everyone else is not doing the same and worse
@Luminary: It’s not about the party, it’s about a FG buddy being handed a made up position with taxpayers money.
@Luminary: Most people do. You should too. Otherwise you get a society where certain laws only apply to certain people. There’s a word for that and it’s not a nice one.
Total Embarassment of Gombeen Politicians. I had to turn off the radio today while one FG man on the spit roast went on about world security and phishing attack while be asked a direct question. Embarrassing
They are close to CJ Haughey as I have seen in fiasco after fiasco and lies and disdain for the unhoused , rent ripped off , public.
@Albert Brennerman: Haughey got millions from supporters. Every senior politician knew. Not one did anything. Cover ups everywhere. Different era, different malfeasance, different level of hypo_crisy. This is a 15k job and here we are…… Have we really descended to a nation of finger pointing, gossiping wimps who call out everything on others online but never on ourselves. Shame_less!
Liar’s Liar’s Liar’s
Oh ! Tis like being a fly on the wall .
Any decent computer expert can recover deleted emails. They do it in criminal trials all the time .
Who gives a toss what happened then & when there is a lot more important things to contend with in fairness and for the record I delete texts calls web history cache history everything on a daily basis.
@: sounds like your the man for the job
@alan: sign me up I’ll take whatever money plus perks. But on a serious note this whole thing is a load of old tosh total distraction tactics as the budget negotiations start soon.
@: fair play Simon..
@: lol. Sure, but the issues that have now arisen are serious aren’t they. We are capable of dealing with both this and the budget
They are all liars and they don’t care the contempt they have for the people is beyond belief
All the people accusing Leo of a cover up over the appointment and of deliberately breaking Covid rules at the Merrion appear to have vanished. I’m sure they’ll be along later tho to set the record straight.
Much ado about nothing. It was a bit dodgy at worst.
@Eoin Hennigan: A bit dodgy? Making a cushy job for someone with connections and paying them with taxpayers’ money is called corruption.
@Bramley Hawthorne: 50 days work by an experienced local advicate for 15,000 in New York (where lawyers charge 750 plus per hour) is called value for money.
What is wrong with this country when the main news item event is taken up by something that happened weeks ago.
Look what is happening on Afghan/ Yemen/Tigrey etc and all we can talk about is Zappone,Varakey,Covney.
For gods sake get our priorities right.
@Pat Mulcahy: my priority is national news first then international news. Which I’m able to get because I can google this stuff.
Do you have a hard time reading news from other outlets?
@Pat Mulcahy: It took the Taliban to get Coveney out of hiding. Priority should be getting our own house in order.
Piglet, how very appropriate.
All above board, nothing to see here. Move along to find something else to whinge about
I’m marking the cards of the opposition party members who are eager to be interviewed by RTE and Virgin Media News to to demand investigations , resignations, and would ultimately enjoy bringing the government down over a rather small issue when seen in the context of the urgent attention of government needed to address more important matters .
have your say