Summer 2020
Former minister for children Katherine Zappone moves to New York after losing her Dáil seat. Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney told the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee last week that she contacted him then and they had a brief conversation where she "mentioned that she would be available to help in any way she could in our work at the UN".
February 2021
Mr Coveney says he spoke to Ms Zappone again in February and she told him about work she was doing in the UN system. He told the committee: “At no point in that conversation did I consider that she was lobbying me for a specific job.”
February 24th: Mr Coveney said that at the end of a meeting with Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) former secretary general Niall Burgess he asked the top official in his department for his view on "whether Katherine Zappone could be of any use to our team in New York".
March 2021
March 4th: Records released by DFA show Ms Zappone texted Mr Coveney to thank him "so, so much for offering me this incredible opportunity". She adds: "It will be such a privilege and I will be so proud to serve Ireland again."
March 23rd: DFA political director Sonja Hyland asks officials to set up a meeting "for a discussion on a possible envoy in the human rights space".
April 2021
April 6th: The first draft of a document of a Proposed Special Envoy on Civic Space has been prepared by officials by this date. It outlines "areas of thematic focus" and "potential activities" for the job.
April 9th: Ms Zappone texts Mr Coveney saying: "Simon, see you have a lot on your plate as always… Have heard in the background that department may be ready to discuss proposals with you for my work?"
May 2021
May 4th: Ms Zappone texts Mr Coveney saying: "Hi Simon, hope all well. Any news yet? You had mentioned June as start time."
June 2021
June 6th: Geraldine Byrne Nason, Ireland's ambassador to the UN, emails Mr Burgess and notes at the end that Ms Zappone was "in touch". She wrote: "She asked me what had happened to her nomination as LTGTBQ [SIC]envoy. She said there is radio silence from the Minister. I told her he was run off his feet... but that I would remind you when we were in contact."
July 2021
July 16th: Ms Zappone sends a message to Tánaiste Leo Varadkar saying: "I was expecting to hear from Simon C about my appointment as Special Envoy for Human Rights and LGBTQ+ issues. Have you heard anything?" Mr Varadkar's response indicates that he hadn't.
July 19th: Ms Zappone thanks Mr Coveney via text for a phone call and says she expects to meet Mr Burgess to "hammer things out". Mr Varadkar sends Mr Coveney a message saying: "Seeing Katherine Zappone on Wednesday. Do you know anything about her becoming our LGBT envoy?" Mr Coveney responds: "Yeah, I spoke to Katherine tonight. She's meeting Niall Burgess on Wednesday to finalise a 12-month contract to be an Irish Govt Special Envoy for 'Freedom of Expression and Human Rights' (with a focus on LGBT). She seems very happy. I plan to have it in a memo for Govt next week."
July 21st: Mr Burgess sends Ms Zappone a "concept note" on the envoy job which outlines the rationale for the role and tasks that would be carried out. Ms Zappone sends Mr Burgess her own document on the "supporting rationale" for the envoy job. She says: "We can talk from the two documents." Ms Zappone later texts Mr Coveney to say she had a "productive meeting" with Mr Burgess and outlined how the secretary general was preparing a "short concept note" for the Minister. She adds: "Thanks again for this privilege and opportunity." Ms Zappone hosts an event in the Merrion Hotel that evening. Mr Varadkar is in attendance among some 50 guests. Both Ms Zappone and Mr Varadkar say afterwards that the event complied with Covid-19 regulations.
July 22nd: A new version of the "concept note" was drafted. Mr Burgess tells Ms Zappone via email: "I really liked your expansion on the rationale and I took the liberty of incorporating that too."
July 27th: Mr Coveney briefs Cabinet on the plan to appoint Ms Zappone as a special envoy. It soon leaks that Taoiseach Micheál Martin was not made aware of the plan before the meeting and controversy erupts. Opposition TDs make claims of "cronyism" due to Ms Zappone's former role as a minister in the previous Fine Gael-led minority government, though these are dismissed by the Government.
August 2021
August 4th: It is revealed that there was some 50 people at Ms Zappone's event at the Merrion Hotel and questions arise about the event's compliance with Covid-19 rules. Ms Zappone, Mr Varadkar and the Merrion Hotel insist it did not breach regulations. The issue reignites the controversy over Ms Zappone's appointment. She releases a statement that day saying she decided not to accept the special envoy role. She said: "It is clear that criticism of the appointment process has impacted the legitimacy of the role itself." The following day advice from the attorney general Paul Gallagher is released by the Government saying that gatherings of up to 200 people are allowed outdoors.
August 31st: Mr Coveney appears at the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs where he is quizzed on the Zappone appointment. He insists Mr Varadkar had "no act, hand or part" in the process. He said Mr Varadkar had texted him in mid-July to say that he would be meeting Ms Zappone if there was anything he needed to know. "I texted back [telling him] that we were looking at a special envoy role for her." Asked for details on the specific date this exchange happened, Mr Coveney told the committee he did not hold on to text messages for long periods "in terms of data on my phone and so on".
September 2021
September 1st: Mr Coveney offered a new explanation of why he had deleted phone texts between himself, Mr Varadkar and Ms Zappone saying he did so because his phone had previously been hacked.
September 7th: Mr Coveney is to appear at the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee again to offer further clarifications on the Zappone appointment.
