Documents on Zappone's envoy appointment to be released by the Government today

At his appearance at the committee last Tuesday, Simon Coveney said he had deleted text exchanges between himself and Katherine Zappone, and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, which related to Ms Zappone’s appointment. 

The Department of Foreign Affairs will today release a number of documents related to the appointment of Katherine Zappone as UN Envoy for Freedom of Expression.

The release of the documents had been requested under Freedom of Information (FOI) by a number of journalists who had been told they would be made available on September 8. 

That date was brought forward as Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney is set to appear at the Foreign Affairs Committee for a second time tomorrow.

Mr Coveney's appearance comes amid growing concern about the affair in Fianna Fáil. TDs in that party are frustrated that what is seen as a Fine Gael controversy has damaged their party and undermined Taoiseach Micheál Martin.

Speaking on Newstalk, James Lawless, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, called on the Taoiseach to "stamp his authority" on the situation.

This is a Fine Gael mess. The appointment was hamfisted and Leo Varadkar is in the thick of it and we've a suspicion that a Fine Gael minister leaked it to the media.

"There's not a single Fianna Fáiler near this. The Taoiseach needs to stamp his authority on this."

Mr Lawless said he would divide his questions into queries on Mr Coveney's deletion of text messages and the broader issue of the appointment.

At his appearance at the committee last Tuesday, Mr Coveney said he had deleted text exchanges between himself and Ms Zappone, and the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, which related to Ms Zappone’s controversial appointment. 

That and the revelation that Mr Coveney's phone had been hacked prompted demands that he appear again this week to provide more clarity on the outstanding questions. Mr Lawless said he would be probing the nature of the hack of Mr Coveney's phone.

Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon, who sits on the committee, said the release of the documents made one wonder why they had not been made public sooner.

"The Taoiseach's statement on the documents being released begs the question — why weren't they already? It's silly to the point of farce.

"The real question is when did [Mr Coveney] delete the text messages. Was it after the FOIs went in? Given that we know that Ms Zappone was in contact over the last year, does he think she wasn't lobbying? It looks like a divvy up."

Sinn Féin's spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Defence John Brady said the fact that the committee had not seen the documents before the weekend was unacceptable. 

He said the date of the deletion of the text messages is crucial.

“There is a raft of material out there relating to this affair, much of which has been the subject to Freedom of Information requests by members of the Oireachtas, the public and journalists," he said. 

“The ongoing delay in issuing these matters of public interest is unacceptable. Depending on the quantity of documentation, it's important that we get the documents as soon as possible.

"The key question is if there are more text messages on the phone that have been deleted? We need to get full disclosure on who signed this off."