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Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney apologised for not following procedure in the appointment of Katherine Zappone as a special envoy on freedom of expression, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.
Mr Martin was not aware of the plan to appoint Ms Zappone, who served as an Independent minister in the previous Fine Gael-led minority government, prior to Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting.
“Clearly procedure wasn’t entirely followed in terms of the three parties. We have agreements that if people are being appointed we give each other a heads-up in terms of names,” Mr Martin told Newstalk Breakfast, adding that Mr Coveney apologised “very quick after the meeting”.
The Taoiseach has been seeking to play down the matter, saying there were “far more substantive issues” on the Cabinet’s agenda on Tuesday.
He added: “There’s no issue with Katherine Zappone herself in terms of being a former senior minister, being a person who is a strong advocate in terms of freedom expression, LGBT+ issues.”
Mr Martin said there have been “lessons learned” and “we have to take on board how people react to this, the perception of this and so on”.
He said envoys won’t be appointed in the same way in future.
‘Expertise’
Meanwhile, asked on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland if he was happy with how the appointment was made, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said: “No, I don’t think anyone was happy and I think the Minister of Foreign Affairs himself admitted that, in hindsight, he would have announced that differently.”
Mr Ryan defended the decision to go through with the appointment, however, saying Ms Zappone has “real expertise” in the area she will be working in and “shown over many years to be an absolute leader”.
He said she will be an “excellent envoy” in what he described as “a limited role” that is “backing up work she’s already doing”. He said Ireland will be “able to benefit and avail of that”.
Asked if such jobs should be advertised in the future, he said: “I think in all positions in all jobs we have, the more open and the more transparent it is in terms of what positions are available, yes.”
Creation of the role
On Wednesday Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said it was Ms Zappone that approached Mr Coveney about the New York-based job which will involve work with the United Nations.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has not yet clarified whether it was Ms Zappone who suggested the creation of the role in the first place.
Mr Varadkar acknowledged that either he or Mr Coveney should have informed the Taoiseach of the planned appointment and dismissed Opposition claims of cronyism as “nonsense”.
He added: “There’s no issue with Katherine Zappone herself in terms of being a former senior minister, being a person who is a strong advocate in terms of freedom expression, LGBT+ issues.”