Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In a parliamentary democracy, the tabling of a motion of no confidence in a member of Government is a most serious matter, one that goes to the heart of our responsibilities as a House under the Constitution to hold the Government to account. Such a motion has been tabled, and I will set out the Labour Party's position on this unfortunate affair. The facts of the issues at hand are clear from the documents published by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Those facts are that the former Minister, Katherine Zappone, actively sought a role after leaving office, initially with USAID by seeking an introduction to Samantha Power, and contacted her former Government colleagues to that end. Subsequently, she sought a role with the United Nations as an Irish special envoy. The text messages of 26 February from Ms Zappone to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, in response to his phone call to her was a checklist of her qualifications for the job. Her text message of 4 March was a clear appreciation of being offered the role and sought the specifics of her appointment duration. There is simply no other way of reading those text messages. The Minister denies he made the job offer in late February and does not see Ms Zappone's communications as lobbying, and therein lies the difficulty. He cannot accept that in response to a request from a former ministerial colleague, he created a new position without reference to his partners in government and offered it to her.

I happen to believe that a special envoy on freedom of opinion and expression is a very good idea in the current world, an idea that should usefully be debated in this House and that would attract many excellent candidates, no doubt Ms Zappone among them, but that is not how this matter was handled. Many Members, and indeed commentators, have rightly said in recent weeks that there are more important and pressing issues to discuss, such as the future of Sláintecare, the climate crisis or the new housing plan for Ireland, but underpinning all major policy initiatives is the requirement to maintain public confidence in the way politicians do the people's business. In government, the Labour Party introduced the reformed Freedom of Information Act, the Regulation of Lobbying Act and legislation protecting whistleblowers, all designed to ensure transparency in public administration, but cultural and behavioural change is difficult to legislate for.

These are not small or irrelevant matters. Trump won by eroding confidence in government. His calls to "drain the swamp" struck a chord with people who had lost their trust in politicians.

We see evidence of that happening in Europe, too. Ironically, nobody is more attuned to and aware of that than the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Ministers, no more than anyone else, make mistakes and make misjudgments. What is required when that happens is a full ventilation of the truth. Had that happened from the outset, I do not believe we would be having this debate tonight. However, that is not what happened. That is plain for all to see. No more than Donald Trump, the Government and the Minister are not entitled to their alternative facts. Public confidence in politics itself is under attack across the world, and this sorry affair damages all of us.

The Labour Party, from the outset of this Government, expressed no confidence in this Administration. We will do so again this evening. However, I hope, in the expectation the Government will win the vote tonight, that it will not be taken by the Government as somehow an expression that what happened is acceptable in any way. I would hope the true spirit of the legislation on freedom of information, the regulation of lobbying and the protection of whistleblowers is put into effect and those assurances are given to this House tonight.

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