Tag Archives: Simon Coveney

This morning.

Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2.

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence Simon Coveney TD disembarking the L.É. Samuel Beckett at the Naval Service 75th anniversary.

Sam Boal/RollingNews

Meanwhile…

Meanwhile…

This evening.

Simon Coveney is addressing the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs about the appointment of Katherine Zappone.

Watch live here.

Earlier…

From left: Katherine Zappone, Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney celebrate after Ireland secured a seat on the UN Security Council last year

This afternoon.

Ahead of an appearance later by Simon Coveney at an Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence meeting to explain his role in the appointment of Katherine Zappone as a UN envoy for free speech.

Via Independent.ie:

In his opening statement to the committee the Fine Gael minister will say that Ms Zappone had reached out to him last summer to mention that she would be available “to help in any way she could in our work at the UN”.

His statement notes that when she served in Government the former independent TD worked as a special envoy for Ireland’s successful bid to be on the UN Security Council before she “stepped down and left politics last summer”.

“In February of this year we spoke and Katherine Zappone told me of work she was doing in the UN system. At no point in that conversation did I consider that she was lobbying me for a job.

“Following on from that conversation however, I reflected on the fact that Katherine Zappone was a former Irish Minister, had been heavily involved in our Security Council campaign, had campaigned all her life on issues of equality and was now living in New York.”

Mr Coveney said that late in February he met with his secretary general to review Ireland’s first months on the UN Security Council and at the end of the meeting asked for his view on whether Ms Zappone “could be of any use to our team in New York. He told me he would reflect on that”….

…Mr Coveney states that that in light of the “increasingly polarised debate on human rights internationally” including with the EU, his department officials recommended a role with a broad mandate focussing on freedom of expression…..

“I approached Katherine Zappone and asked if she’d be interested in taking this role in principle. She said she would and I handed the process back to my Secretary General.”

Good times.

Coveney sought UN role for Zappone before controversial special envoy appointment (Independent.ie)

RollingNews

Last night.

RTE One’s Prime Time.

Meanwhile…

….via Irish Examiner

Despite the initial 36 Irish citizens all being evacuated, a further 60 citizens have made contact with Irish authorities along with 15 Afghan citizens with Irish residency.

That 75 are being told to stay where they are for now, Mr Coveney said.

However, Mr Coveney told RTÉ Morning Ireland that it would not have been possible to have boots on the ground sooner.

“That is one of the answers we don’t have.

“All I can say is that we made decisions on the basis of the evidence we had and the advice that we had at any given time over the last 10 days was very clear that the arrangements we had in place in terms of partnerships on the ground with other countries were working on just getting people out.

“The situation is everything that I’ve seen in the media became much more complicated. In the last three or four days in particular, and much more dangerous, and it was about time that I decided that we needed to get people on the ground.

“And we managed to put in place the capacity to do that, because we thought it would add value in terms of taking the opportunities that will present themselves to get people out.

“And so we sent 11 people into a very dangerous situation.

“The most difficult task was to get people from the streets of Kabul into the airport, and we had then fantastic supports to get them onto planes, whether that was France, whether it was Finland in recent days, Germany, the Netherlands, UK have also been really really supportive in terms of everything we’ve been trying to do.”

Simon Coveney defends decision not to send Irish troops to Kabul airport sooner (Irish Examiner)

This afternoon.

Dublin Castle, Dublin 2.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney with Eamonn Andrews UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis arriving to the first British-Irish Intergovernmental meeting in two years.

RollingNews

This morning.

Phoenix Park, Dublin.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif here to discuss the Iran Nuclear Deal as part of Ireland’s role on the UN Security Council, at Farmleigh House and Estate.

RollingNews

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney

This morning.

Further to Department of Health plans to expand the Mandatory Hotel Quarantine scheme to include 43 additional countries, including the United States, France and Germany….

“There are a lot of concerns about our capacity to (increase the number of countries) in the short term. We need to think through the implications of that.

“It is one thing having a couple of hundred people in two or three hotels being managed by a contractor and the Defence Forces and working with the Garda Síochána and the Department of Health .

“It’s quite another thing having thousands of people in hotels which would have the implication of expanding this to lots of countries particularly EU countries where there are a lot of Irish people.”

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney in an interview with Highland Radio this morning.

Hotel quarantine should not apply to countries where many Irish live, Coveney says (Irish Times)

RollingNews

Today’s RTÉ News website

This morning/afternoon.

RG writes:

Remember how freaked you were by the Leaving? No one in this government seems to…

Fight!

Coveney says there ‘might be’ clarity on Leaving Cert tomorrow (RTÉ)

Last night.

Meanwhile…

The Tánaiste is due to give a 20-minute statement in the Dáil chamber at 4.10pm on how and why he gave a contract negotiated between the Government and the Irish Medical Organisation to a rival GP group in April of last year.

As well as Mr Coveney, a succession of Fine Gael Ministers have defended Mr Varadkar asserting that much of the information in the document was in the public realm and his only intention was to ensure more GPs signed-up to a long-overdue upgraded contract.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said he has confidence in the Tánaiste but admitted the controversy is a distraction.

Varadkar due to make Dáil statement over document leak (RTE)

Meanwhile…

Paddy Cosgrave

Paddy Cosgrave [Web Summit co-founder], who has been a vocal critic of the Government and the political system, and also settled a High Court action taken by Mr Ó’Tuathail – who received the leak from Mr Varadkar – earlier this year.

Mr Cosgrave also provided “strategic advice” on the article, [Village editor Michael Smith] said. Asked for comment, Mr Cosgrave responded with an emoji with a zipped mouth.

When details of his alleged involvement were put to him, he responded with a “thumbs up” emoji.

Mr Smith has said he has “more information” to come on the Varadkar story.

Asked for details, he said the magazine is “going through a whole range of correspondence that [whistleblower Chay [Bowe} received, mostly from Maitiú Ó Tuathail.”

Who are the main players in the Varadkar document leak? (irish Times)

RollingNews

This morning.

Brussels, Belgium.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney (right) meeting with EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.

Giggidygoo writes:

‘Belgium is not on the Green List. Will he isolate upon his return?’

Anyone?

Pic: @simoncoveney

Yesterday.

Casement Aerodrome, County Dublin

Minister for Defence Simon Coveney mark the arrival via Switzerland and Denver of three new Pilatus PC-12 NG Spectre Aircraft for the Irish Air Corp.

Previously: Incoming

Rollingnews/@IRLDeptDefence