The Worst Government at the Worst time Ever! pic.twitter.com/CwhIm5JNOh
— Mick Caul 😷 (@caulmick) August 4, 2021
This afternoon.
Earlier…
Katherine Zappone hosted 50 people at a function in the Merrion Hotel, including Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, six days before Ms Zappone was appointed as a UN special envoy. The function contravened Fáilte Ireland guidelines for reopening hotels
The event in one of the country’s most exclusive hotels was held six days before Ms Zappone was controversially appointed special envoy on freedom of opinion and expression.https://t.co/jI6IvDdO0O
— Independent.ie (@Independent_ie) August 4, 2021
This morning.
Via Independent.ie
Ms Zappone’s party in the luxury, five-star Dublin hotel was attended by friends, civil servants and politicians.
Around 50 guests were seated separately at tables of six in the Merrion Hotel’s Garden Terrace.
The Tánaiste attended the event prior to a meeting he held with Fine Gael senators on the same evening.
He told the meeting he had just come from an event hosted by their former government colleague Ms Zappone.
Good times.
Previously: The Land Of Nod And Wink
Update:
Statement to @RTENewsAtOne from Katherine Zappone:
"Please contact the Merrion Hotel for their statement regarding compliance with government covid-19 restrictions and guidelines for my private event….
— Bryan Dobson (@BryanNewsatOne) August 4, 2021
Just goes to show how weak FF are, that with a myriad of FG scandals they cant capitalize on them at all.
Right now FG scandals hurt FF more lol, just shows how toothless FF are and how spineless MM is.
followed by 18 up in Powerscourt? lol
The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”
No matter what way one looks at it, this hotel event was totally unnecessary.
The whole appointment and the secrecy behind it smells of complete and utter cronyism. One would think that after the farce of the political golf retreat in Clifton, they would know better. But I guess not!
In normal times. One could reasonably expect that such an incident would bring down a three-way coalition government.
But with all 3 parties basing heavy losses in polls Should a snap election be called that is not going happen.
Technically all social events are unnecessary, so I assume you haven’t left your house since last Patrick’s Day
well what kills me .. is FG are still topping most polls. Geoghegan came 2nd after a disastrous campaign. There’s still a lot of people who absolutely just don’t care that FG carry on like this and will still vote for them. I think Varadkar knows this and that’s why he’s not bothered addressing it properly or taking it seriously.
I get what you mean, I think part of the reason why they are performing so well (relatively!) Is that their opposition and coalition partners are so weak.
Sinn Fein are making some right noises on housing et cetera but their economic policies. Although been very good for the first couple years will ultimately lead this country back into a recession. I think people realise this. On the question of the European Union. They have gone from being the most Eurosceptic party in the land (which I would fully support btw) to the most pro-European! In a relatively short space of time. They support wealth taxes, which will mean people who have worked hard all their lives and made poorer to support those that don’t work.
The far left are a joke, except a non funny one, their idea of quality is that all become poor together. They are appealing to their support base and the people that bought them and they make outrageous proposals. They know that isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of them ever be in government and having to deliver on them. It’s all about racking up votes come election time.
There are a couple of good independents , but they are largely useless, except for propping up on the big parties in government.
Against all this FG seem reasonably consistent, although I will be amazed if the Tanaiste can survive all this scandal and the criminal investigation against him.
Were he to step down and Coveney take over, I could see FG bouncing back relatively quickly. He is generally more liked among the population than Varadkar for many people rightly regard as slippy.
I wonder who paid for it
The cost will be borne by the taxpayer.
…who paid for this…implied that Zapper did but I don’t believe she has paid for anything for many years…first thing I thought when she got her most recent sinecure was that Irish citizens are still paying her expenses…
exactly .. once I saw this I knew there’s no way that cheapskate, freeloader paid for a 50 guest event in the Merrion.
“Mr Varadkar asked Ms Zappone prior to the event if her party was in line with the Government’s guidelines for the hospitality sector. She assured him it was. He also checked with a member of the hotel’s staff prior to attending the event.”
if only there was some way that the tanaiste would have known what the health regulations were
The ‘Clifden’ approach
lolzzzz
This is getting better and better.
Nice…
This is a bottle of smoke and can be quite easily explained:
The first photo there shows 5 bottles of Champagne of 750cl which would give you 5 glasses per bottle.
So that’s 50 guests each having a half a glass of Champagne which they frugally decanted into just 4 glasses and took turns ‘having a swig’ (in the parlay of the street). This dramatically reduced the carbon footprint of the event. You can also see the bowl of exactly 50 strawberries. One each.
Half a glass of Champagne and a strawberry! Hard to believe people are getting worked up about that!!
hahahaha
Oh dear. What on earth makes you think this is a photo from the actual event?
I was there Lilly. I took that photo
So by your logic, Cian, 50 guests supped out of just four champagne flutes. Scandalous behaviour during a pandemic!
I’d say Cian ate all the strawberries
The guests used hand sanitiser before and after touching the glass and the glasses were scrupulously cleaned by a staff member after each guest imbibed their allotted half glass. The guests also wore masks while waiting (socially distanced) in line and while doing their toilet.
All in accordance with government guidelines. Thank you very much.
righhhhhht, allowed half glass that’s hilarious
Admit it, guests were required to bring their individual straw.
I hope they used those recyclable straws.
Can anybody identify the label and year of the champagne?
I really don’t understand why they’re dragging this out so much.
The longer they go without opening up the position, or having Zappone decline it, the more likely it is that a minister/leader is damaged in the fallout.
When did keeping schtum ever make something like this appointment go away? As we’ve seen this morning, the longer it’s in the news, the more digging journalists do, and the more likely something like this shindig gets dug up.
Personally I’m ok with the outdoor shindig, and many people will be, but that no longer matters because it’s a platform for outrage.
Zappone is quite stubborn, and somewhat cheeky from what we’ve seen previously re: her route to work. So now leader-in-waiting Coveney needs to mea culpa, or he’ll be handing impetus to that upstart Harris who’s clean of this.
As for the Tainaiste? If he wants to be Taoiseach for his 2 year stint he’d want to be more careful. I’m presuming at this point he just wants to take his turn in this government before he rides off into the private sector sunset.
ah but who will he be riding off into that sunset….oh that’s right…us
Looks more like a celebration ‘event’. Congratulations all round. Spiffing what?
I have no problem with 50 people attending an outdoors event, particularly as most would be vaccinated.
Indeed permitting social events to occur outdoors should have began months ago.
Hence it really annoys me to see the people who have banned outdoor events having one themselves.
Varadkar’s claim to have checked the event’s compliance with hotel staff is ridiculous. As Tánaiste responsible in part for the tyrannical rules, if anyone knows the rules it ought to be him.
Ergo either the rules are unclear and unworkable and the competence of those responsible is questionable; or else Varadkar did not know the rules – and again, his competence is questionable.
What a rotten government; onerous rules denying individuals the right to religious freedom, despite supposed protection under Article 44 of the Constitution – yet 44,000 are to be let attend a GAA match; where’s the consistency of treatment, basis of evidence and equal weighting, or impartiality of the law?
The rules preventing outdoor gatherings are tyrannical as demonstrated by our supposed leaders. In so doing they have also shown a remarkable sense of entitlement, for which the justification is not known.
Will there be any resignations or accountability? Not on your Nelly. Their state takes care of their mates.
Varadkar has declined to come on Radio 1 lunch time news, or anyone else from government; why are they being so shy all of a sudden?
What. A. Rotten. Shower.
‘The Worst Government at the Worst time Ever!’
Seems no different from any other Irish government I can remember. Maybe not the rampant corruption of Haughey, but not being as corrupt as Haughey would be a ridiculously low bar. It’s possible our politics are ridiculously ossified.