Helen McEntee confirms she did not attend Department of Foreign Affairs champagne party

The photograph of the soirée was a ‘selfie’ taken by Niall Burgess, who was the secretary-general of the department at the time but has since been appointed ambassador to France. Photo via Twitter

The Department of Foreign Affairs has apologised after a picture was published showing a celebration taking place in its offices in 2020.

The picture was posted on Twitter in June 2020 by then secretary-general of the department Niall Burgess after Ireland secured a seat on the UN Security Council. It was deleted shortly after.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, who was a minister of state at the Department of Foreign Affairs at the time of the champagne party at Iveagh House in June 2020, has said that she did not attend the celebration that breached Covid-19 guidelines.

The confirmation places additional pressure on Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney, who has yet to state whether he attended the event at any point following Ireland’s election to the UN Security Council on June 17, 2020.

Earlier on Wednesday, the department refused to say whether Mr Coveney had taken part in the celebrations, which were blamed on “a moment of happiness” by a spokesman.

It is understood that he was in Government Buildings at the time of the UN Security Council vote. Government Buildings is located just over 1km from the Department of Foreign Affairs in Iveagh House.

A spokesman for Ms McEntee confirmed that she was not in Iveagh House on the evening of the champagne party, which the department has said: “did not meet the standards expected of it”.

A spokesperson for the department said “steps had been taken” after the team “briefly let their guard down” 18 months ago at the Iveagh House while celebrating Ireland’s election to the council. The team was “working in a large open plan area of Iveagh House throughout the day”.

“Had Ireland not won the council seat on the first round of voting, the team would have had to work through the night to campaign for a second vote the next day,” the statement said.

“As it happened, we won in the first round and in a moment of happiness, as the result came in, we briefly let our guard down by celebrating together. It was 18 months ago and steps have been taken to ensure lessons have been learned,” the department said.

The country was in phase two of reopening at that stage. Covid-19 regulations stipulated that people could only meet up to six others from outside their household in indoor and outdoor settings. People were also advised to work from home where possible.

The Iveagh House party has been compared to the ‘Golfgate’ controversy by People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, who said it undermined the public health effort. A statement yesterday said the department had “not met the standards expected of it”. 

It said Mr Burgess had apologised the day after posting the tweet.

“Throughout the pandemic, the Department of Foreign Affairs has maintained a limited presence of staff in our buildings to ensure that essential services are delivered in support of our citizens both in Ireland and worldwide. The UN Security Council campaign team was working in a large open plan area of Iveagh House throughout the day of June 17, 2020. When the result of the UN Security Council vote was announced and it became apparent that Ireland had won a seat in the first round, departmental guidelines were not followed.

“The then secretary-general publicly apologised for the gathering the very next day on June 18, 2020. The department has implemented government and departmental guidance and further briefed staff to ensure rules are followed during the Covid-19 pandemic. The department did not meet the standards expected of it with this gathering and we are sorry that it happened.”

The picture also features then deputy secretary-general Brendan Rogers, who is now Netherlands ambassador and John Concannon who was the head of Tánaiste Leo Varadkar’s controversial Strategic Communications Unit in 2017.