Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 8 February 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence

Review of Workplace Arrangements: Department of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Joe Hackett:

We acknowledge that should have happened, although we say it was an administrative oversight. Keep in mind that the Covid-19 safe working group had only been established on 2 June and, in fact, the first communication from it out to divisions was on 16 June, literally, the day before the event. It had been established but there was not a high level of awareness of it and, crucially, the measures that were taken and that were in place from a safe working arrangement point of view would have been ones that the Covid-19 safe working group would have recommended. We, and I certainly felt that it was more an administrative mistake than a serious error.