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Former Cabinet minister Katherine Zappone has been appointed to the new position of UN special envoy for freedom of expression in a move which sparked a political backlash.
The Cabinet agreed on Tuesday to appoint Ms Zappone, who was the minister for children in the previous Fine Gael-Independent government, to the role.
A Government spokesman said that as special envoy she would “focus on freedom of opinion and expression, to provide high-level engagement on a small number of established Irish human rights priorities”.
“She has a lifetime’s work helping to change the Constitution for marriage Equality and also the Eighth Amendment. She will be remunerated on a pro-rata basis, up to a maximum of 60 days a year.”
The Government has yet to reveal what her exact salary will be.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín TD called on Tánaiste Leo Varadkar to answer questions in relation to the appointment.
He said he wanted to know what the recruitment process was, if the position was advertised and if so how many people applied for the job.
He said he also had questions around what the roles and responsibilities were for the position.
Defending the move, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said “Katherine has a really strong record in public life here in Ireland”.
“She’s been a member of the Oireachtas, a member of government, and she has a really big expertise in the area that we’re going to be asking her to advocate the Irish position on, which is human rights and freedom of expression.
“The justification for the role is that there are many countries at the moment that do realise there are particular values on particular projects that have to have representation at diplomatic level.”
Allocation
Meanwhile, the Cabinet also agreed to a significant increase in capital spending over the coming years.Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath outlined to Ministers a new 10-year package for capital spending of €136 billion, which is €45 billion more than the existing National Development Plan (NDP) or an increase of 49 per cent.
Each government department has been given a specific allocation for the coming years and further details around projects will be revealed
In 2022 a capital budget of €11.1 billion is being earmarked, which is an increase from the €9.8 billion allocation this year.
There were intensive discussions between Ministers around the final figures.
It is expected that major themes in the new NDP will be the need to accelerate the construction of social and affordable homes, improvements to healthcare capacity, investment in education and research and climate issues.
Mr McGrath also told the Cabinet that new measures would be put in place to safeguard the taxpayers’ investment. These would include the appointment of members with private sector expertise to the board of Project Ireland 2040 as well as a new major projects advisory group.
Separately, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney announced proposals for four new overseas missions, with new consulates general planned in Miami, Toronto, Lyon and a new embassy in Dakar.
He also confirmed the appointment of the current secretary general to the Government, Martin Fraser, to London next year to become Ireland’s Ambassador to the UK.