Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Fraser and thank him for attending the meeting. I will be reading from script provided to me by Senator Wilson. I have not attended previous meetings of the committee on this matter, but I have attentively followed them. When the Minister, Deputy Coveney, first appeared before the committee on 31 August, Senator Wilson asked him a series of specific questions relating to the preparation and submission of the Cabinet memo. Among the questions asked was a question as to whether the contents of the memo had been discussed with the Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach and the Cabinet secretariat in advance of the Cabinet meeting and if the memo and its contents were brought to the attention of the programme managers and-or political advisers in the offices of the Taoiseach or the leader of the Green Party? In response to that question, the Minister, on page 24, paragraph 2, of the committee report, said:

As to whether the contents of the memorandum were discussed among Secretaries General, I do not think so. Certainly, if the Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach knew about this, I am sure he would have raised it with the Taoiseach.

On 6 September, the Department of Foreign Affairs released the papers related to Dr. Zappone's appointment. That bundle of documents contained a reference from 26 July described in the index of an email as, "email from sec-gen to the Department of An Taoiseach". The index states this was the email sending the memo to the Government as an attachment. It also says there is no message or text in the email. The email shows it was sent from the email account of Mr. Niall Burgess, who was then Secretary General at the Department of Foreign Affairs, to the email address of Mr. Fraser at the Department of An Taoiseach. That was sent on Monday, 26 July at 21.24. The email subject line references final HOMs memo. Senator Wilson would like to know from Mr. Fraser if the Minister, Deputy Coveney, was correct when he said, ".....if the Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach knew about this, I am sure he would have raised it with the Taoiseach.". When the email was sent on Monday, 26 July at 21.24, was there already a version of that memo on the e-Cabinet system? The subject heading describes the attachment as "final HOMs memo". What does HOMs mean? I presume "final" means there was an earlier version. Was that email on the e-Cabinet system? What are the differences? Did they include the naming of the person to be appointed special envoy or was that name only identified at the Cabinet meeting on the following day? Did Mr. Fraser see the memo sent as an attachment by email on Monday, 26 July at 21.24? As there is no text in the attached email, we would assume that Mr. Fraser and his colleagues, were expecting an attachment to arrive from the Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs at that time. When was that email opened by Mr. Fraser, or his colleagues, and what was done with it?

I have asked plenty of questions. I would be grateful if Mr. Fraser could reply to some of them.