Opposition TDs critical of report into Dept of Foreign Affairs champagne gathering

Labour, People Before Profit, and Social Democrats slam Joe Hackett's report into the controversial office party 

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney and his department's secretary general Niall Burgess at an event in the British embassy in March 2020. File picture: Julien Behal Photography

The Taoiseach and Simon Coveney, the foreign affairs minister, have sought to draw a line under the champagne party at the Department of Foreign Affairs, but opposition politicians have slammed the report into the event.

Published on Monday night, the report found that former department secretary general Niall Burgess “was largely responsible for facilitating the breach of social distance guidance” at the champagne party at the department’s headquarters in June 2020. However, it found no evidence that Mr Coveney attended when drinks were being had, but that he had stopped by the UN affairs section of the department afterwards.

The report by Mr Burgess’ successor, Joe Hackett, reveals that Mr Burgess supplied three bottles of “sparkling wine” from his office on the evening of June 17, 2020.

The tweet sent by Niall Burgess that sparked the controversy about 'Champagne-gate'.

Officials were photographed in Iveagh House celebrating Ireland’s election to the UN Security Council and the image was posted on Twitter by Mr Burgess, now Ireland’s ambassador to France.

Speaking yesterday morning, Mr Coveney said the event “was not an organised gathering” but “people working in the workplace”.

After the results of the vote came through from New York, and Ireland was elected to the Security Council, people came together for a photograph in celebration for about a minute. That’s pretty clear in the report.

“It was an uncharacteristic mistake," Mr Coveney said. "I’ve known Niall Burgess for a long time. He’s a very experienced and very able civil servant. He was the person who would have been leading the massive repatriation efforts at the start of Covid and, three months in the build-up to this incident, helping to bring thousands of Irish citizens home from different parts of the world.”

In the Dáil later yesterday, Micheál Martin said he was “satisfied” with the investigation, but opposition TDs questioned its thoroughness.

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said the investigation was “a whitewash”.

Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Gary Gannon said Mr Coveney and Mr Hackett should appear and, “depending on their answers”, an independent investigation could be useful.

Niall Burgess pictured on Kildare St, Dublin, last September after a committee meeting on Foreign Affairs over the appointment of Katherine Zappone. File picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

He said questions needed to be answered around the level of reprimand  and whether celebrations in the department were “a trend”.

Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said it would be “reasonable” for Mr Burgess to come before the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee, saying it was important to see if “this exposes a culture” within the department. However, he said while it “was wrong”, there was no equation between the event and events at Downing St.

"But at the same time, we need to understand how it happened. At the same time, instinctively, if I was asked does this expose a culture in departments, I would say it doesn't."