Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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When the Minister for Foreign Affairs appeared before the committee, I asked him, at one stage, if an error had been made in the Cabinet memo, or what detail was in it that caused people to be blindsided. He said:

This was, by the way, in the Cabinet memo, but it was not spotted by some people. I have the page from the Cabinet memo in front of me, which mentioned a special envoy for freedom of opinion and expression in terms of an appointment. It outlined in brief terms what that was about and that the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence requested the approval of Government for the appointment of Katherine Zappone as that special envoy. It was actually in the memo.

Perhaps I have it wrong. I know that Mr. Fraser cannot necessarily answer this question but it must be that the Minister was referring to the second memo that he brought personally to the Cabinet meeting. However, we understood, when he gave that information to our committee, that he was referring to the first memo. In his second appearance before the committee, he apologised for being sloppy. Perhaps this was one aspect of his sloppy evidence. Is that Mr. Fraser's understanding?