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

The FOI request is a legal matter for the Department. It might be helpful if I ask the Secretary General to talk the committee through what happened after I had a conversation with him. I mentioned the issue of whether Katherine Zappone could add to our team in New York. It is important the committee and the public know that there was quite a process in the Department, much of which I did not even know about, assessing whether or not there would be a useful role here that would add value so that the Secretary General could then come back to me on the issue, having looked at it.

Chair, would it be helpful if I asked the Secretary General, Mr. Niall Burgess, to give a brief outline?