Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 7 September 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence

Appointment of Special Envoys: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence

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

I do, and I can see how people would read that interpretation into this, which is why I regret that I have not provided more clarification in regard to what happened before now. I understand why the politics of this have been controversial. All I can say is that the Department went through a pretty rigorous process to develop and recommend the role that subsequently was offered to Katherine Zappone. I mentioned it to her early in the process to see whether she would be interested and, as I said before, she enthusiastically responded to that in a text, which certainly makes it look like it was a job offer earlier on, but it was not and she should have known that as a previous Minister.

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