Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to come back to the committee to try to get an agreed process that recognises the special envoy selection process.

To clarify for Deputy Lawless, I believe 12 special envoys were deployed to advance Ireland's regional and bilateral engagement as we tried to get support in the build-up to the vote on the Security Council. Nine months in advance of that vote, the Government asked Katherine Zappone, who was a serving Minister at the time, whether she would be a special envoy in this area. She had been interested in it and had been campaigning on the issue when she was abroad. She took a real interest in it and I thought she would be a good additional support. Having a Government Minister looking to get support adds an awful lot of value.

I could only do too much. I was not travelling much, mainly because I was involved in a lot of Brexit issues. Having a second Minister who was willing to put time into campaigning for the Security Council role was very helpful. Katherine Zappone was very helpful and genuinely interested in the issues. It was no more complicated than that. She was not paid anything extra. She simply received expenses for some of her extra travel linked to Ireland's campaign to get onto the Security Council. That would have happened through the Departments as would normally be the case.