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

I spoke to the Secretary General after Katherine texted me on 22 February asking for advice and an introduction to the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, which was clearly an organisation she wanted to work with. I did not respond to that text but I spoke to the Secretary General, as he confirmed to the committee last week. He is here again today if the Deputy wants him to make an intervention. We spoke on 24 February and I raised the issue of whether Katherine Zappone could be of use to our team in New York. He responded positively to that because he had worked with Katherine in the past and she was previously a special envoy, do not forget, in relation to the Security Council campaign, but he said he wanted to think about it. I spoke to Katherine Zappone after that conversation, which is why she texted me on 26 February effectively outlining her curriculum vitae, CV, in terms of how she could be useful but there is no reference in that text to a special envoy role because there had been no discussion on a special envoy at that point.

Niall Burgess came back to me in early March to say the Biden Administration was putting in place a special envoy role to promote LGBTQ+ rights. He thought it was a good idea and he wanted to explore that concept for Ireland within the Department. That was in the context of the previous conversation we had. I then went back to Katherine Zappone on the back of that conversation, as I said to her I would once Niall Burgess had come back to me. I had a conversation with her on 3 March to say that the Secretary General had come back to me with a concept around a special envoy role, that that was what the US was doing and we now needed to explore it in the Department. I asked her if she would be interested in that kind of role should it develop and should the recommendation come through. She was very positive and excited about that possible role and that is clear in her text the following day. However, as I said in my opening statement, it would have been helpful if I had responded to her text to clarify that it was not a job offer at that stage but simply a concept that may materialise later on, which it subsequently did.