DFA boss gave go-ahead for staff to gather 'in the thick of it' prior to champagne party

Green light for officials communicated in an email from Niall Burgess’s private secretary the day before the event on June 17, 2020

The controversial Niall Burgess party tweet.

The former secretary-general of the Department of Foreign Affairs said he was “happy” for Iveagh House staff to gather “in the thick of it” to watch the UN Security Council vote that preceded a champagne party in June 2020, internal records reveal.

The go-ahead for officials to gather “down the back of the political open-plan [office]” was communicated in an email from Niall Burgess’s private secretary the day before the event on June 17, 2020.

It came just a week after a document was circulated to DFA staff which stated that all meetings and events should be conducted by video call rather than in person, and reminded workers to “adhere to strict social distancing guidelines”.

Mr Burgess’s approval for the gathering at the back of the open-plan office — which is where the photograph of 20 civil servants celebrating with bottles of champagne was taken — was greeted with slightly more caution by a third secretary.

“We will proceed on this basis for the moment,” she replied, but noted that staff may “move locations” to watch the UN Security Council election “given social distancing measures”.

However, the same official was pictured holding a glass of champagne closely surrounded by her colleagues in the ‘selfie’ taken by Mr Burgess on the night of the celebration.

Strict Covid guidelines

Records released under Freedom of Information laws show that DFA staff were issued with strict Covid-19 guidelines on a number of occasions in the weeks preceding the controversial gathering on June 17, 2020.

On March 13, Iveagh House staff were notified that “all on-site and off-site events” were to be cancelled, and they were asked to postpone all “team events” until further notice.

In another email forwarded directly to Mr Burgess, the department’s health and safety manager warned officials about the message that holding face-to-face meetings sends out to “the wider organisation” at a difficult time.

The DFA said that no records exist in relation to the purchase of champagne or other alcohol for consumption at the Iveagh House party. 

It also said that no correspondence or briefing notes about the event had been sent or received by Minister Simon Coveney.

In his email conveying the secretary general’s consent for staff to watch proceedings in the office, private secretary Patrick Rooney put “thick of it” in inverted commas. The Thick of It is a BBC comedy that satirises the inner workings of the British government.

Internal investigation

An internal investigation into the incident was launched on January 13. According to the terms of reference of the investigation, seen by The Irish Examiner, the review will examine:

• The workplace arrangements and public health advice in the Department on 17 June 2020;
• The circumstances under which staff were present in Iveagh House on that day;
• The nature of the work that required on-site presence;
• The circumstances whereby staff gathered in the UN Unit of Iveagh House following the result of the vote; and relevant timelines.

It says that staff "will be obliged to co-operate with the review and attend for meeting with the Human Resources Division when requested to do so". They may be questioned on any matter relevant to the day.

The report will be completed by January 31 and the Department intends to publish "key outcomes and conclusions contained in the report".

However, there has been criticism of the fact that the probe is being headed by Mr Burgess’s successor in the DFA.

Speaking in the Dáil last week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: “The people involved have said what they did was wrong, and it was wrong. It should not have happened and was clearly a breach of guidelines.”