Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and I thank the Minister for making himself available again. I said at the committee last week that this appointment was wrong from the get-go. Irrespective of blindsiding the Taoiseach or the Cabinet, it should never have been accepted. It was not accepted, which was inevitably the case after a public backlash when questions emerged. Many questions, as the Minister said, remain. That is despite subsequent and extensive interviews on the "News at One", the Minister's appearance in front of the committee for more than two hours last week and texts released subsequent to that meeting by the Tánaiste under a freedom of information, FOI, request, which, as the Minister said, were eventually responded to yesterday. The perception remains that Katherine Zappone lobbied the Minister for Finance and, thereafter, the Minister, the Tánaiste and, indeed, the Irish ambassador to the UN looking for a job in the UN. It appeared from that documentation that the Minister offered her a position in March and, thereafter, officials prepared credible documentation to support the need for such a role. Officials agreed terms with Katherine Zappone and the Minister then informed the Tánaiste 12 days before the Cabinet meeting that she was very happy with what had been approved between her and Niall Burgess, the Secretary General.

Hopefully, as the Minister rightly said, we can finally begin to consign this saga to history and bring what some have described as melodrama to an end. This is melodrama the Cabinet failed to nip in the bud initially and ever since because of lack of clarity, failure to adhere to FOI requests and failure to understand that Government business by text is State property and not private data between Ministers and former colleagues that can be deleted. Is the Minister now saying that when Katherine Zappone texted him to say she was delighted with the offer, the offer was a concept which she interpreted as a job offer? Is that correct?