Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has said he spent 10 minutes with staff members on the night of the controversial Champagne party which was a breach of Covid-19 restrictions but is adamant he did not attend the event.
Minister Coveney has moved to clarify whether he was present at the Champagne party after remaining silent.
A now-deleted photograph posted on Twitter by his then-secretary general Niall Burgess showed members of Minister Coveney’s staff breaching Covid-19 rules such as social distancing.
The group were unmasked and drinking Moët & Chandon to celebrate Ireland winning a seat on the UN Security Council when Ireland was in strict lockdown rules.
In a statement issued to the Irish Examiner, Minister Coveney said: “June 17th, 2020, was a workday for me.
“At no point during that day did I attend a Champagne celebration.
“I was in Government Buildings for the UN Security Council vote.
“It was at this time a photograph was taken at Iveagh House that showed DFA officials breaching Covid guidelines.
“I had no prior knowledge of this impromptu gathering in the workplace.
“It should not have happened and the then Secretary-General admitted the mistake 18 months ago. The department apologised again last week for the breach.”
Minister Coveney said he went back to his Department on the night in question after being at Government Buildings.
He added: “I spoke to and thanked the staff involved in the UN campaign in the UN section of Iveagh House.
“I did not see the Covid breach from the earlier photograph and I was thanking our officials in their workplace on a workday for the work they had done on behalf of the State.
“After 10 minutes I returned to my office in Iveagh House to prepare for a call with the Norwegian foreign minister and for ongoing briefings on the coalition government negotiations.”
Mr Burgess who is now the Irish Ambassador to France and Monaco admitted “it shouldn't have happened” and tweeted that the group “momentarily dropped our guard” as the result came in that Ireland had won a seat at the UN Security Council.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said Minister Coveney had made it clear he was not at the gathering.
He said: “It was wrong and it shouldn’t have happened but that said the apology has come from the principals involved and it was a lapse of judgement in relation to what happened there.”
He added: “We don’t intend to pursue it any further.”
