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Sinn Féin has said “all options remain on the table” surrounding Simon Coveney’s involvement in the Katherine Zappone envoy controversy, and called on the Taoiseach to state whether he has confidence in the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Mr Coveney has strongly denied that he offered former minister Katherine Zappone a role as a special envoy to the United Nations as early as last March, months before she was formally nominated.
At an appearance before the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, Mr Coveney also rejected claims that Ms Zappone lobbied for the position or that he breached Freedom of Information legislation by deleting texts between himself and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar.
Speaking after Mr Coveney’s committee appearance, Sinn Féin TD for Wicklow John Brady said: “We will act and we will hold people to account and all options remain on the table and we will make a decision based on the response from the Taoiseach in the first instance.”
Mr Brady said Taoiseach Micheál Martin should hold Fine Gael Ministers to account for what he described as “cronyism” around the appointment.
“If he is unable to do that, that raises very serious questions about his leadership abilities, and at that stage we are prepared to take all and any actions but we need to hear from the Taoiseach,” said Mr Brady.
Lynn Boylan, the Sinn Féin Senator, echoed a call made by Mr Brady for former minister Ms Zappone to now appear before the committee and discuss her understanding of the dialogue she had prior to thanking Mr Coveney for a role in a text message on 4th March. Mr Coveney said on Tuesday that no role had been offered when she contacted him.
“For her own dignity, would she not like to clarify the record? What exactly did she think she was being offered on 4th March? As far as I can see, Minister Coveney has now made her look like the fool, that she didn’t know what she was talking about when she sent that message on the 4th of March,” Ms Boylan said.
Mr Brady said that while Ms Zappone could not be compelled to come before the committee, “she was very forthcoming in terms of lobbying for a position that is going to be funded by the taxpayer”.
Mr Brady said Fine Gael Ministers were engaged in “essentially a cover up”, and said Mr Coveney was trying to “spin a new yarn, a cock and bull story, and quite frankly a story that nobody believes” at his committee appearance today.