A number of the 20 Irish Public Servants who were photographed posing at a champagne party in breach of public health guidelines in June 2020 have since been promoted to top roles in the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The Minister in charge of the Department, Simon Coveney has refused to say whether staff who attended the controversial gathering subsequently faced disciplinary action, and the Department itself is equally tight-lipped.
However, the breach does not appear to have adversely affected anyone’s careers.
Of the 13 officials who could be identified from the photograph posted on social media by then-Secretary General, Niall Burgess, and pictured, at least six have been identified as having been promoted.
They include Mr Burgess himself and then-Deputy Secretary General, Brendan Rogers, who were last year appointed Ambassadors to France and the Netherlands respectively.
The two senior Public Servants retained their existing salaries when they assumed their new roles, making them two of Ireland’s highest-paid Ambassadors on salaries of around €213,000 ($A336,100) and €185,000 ($A292,000).
The majority of the country’s Ambassadors are paid between €90,702 ($A123,150) and €112,191 ($A177,000) per annum on a pay scale linked to the Public Service grade of Principal Officer.
Others who featured in the photograph include an official who was Third Secretary in the Department at the time.
She was promoted to Second Secretary around two months after the event, and was promoted again to First Secretary in August.
Another person who attended the party to celebrate Ireland’s election to the United Nations Security Council then held the position of Deputy Director at the Department, but was promoted to First Secretary in October 2020.
Mr Coveney avoided answering questions in relation to the controversy, saying he had “nothing further to add” to an earlier statement in which he said the gathering “should not have happened”.
He confirmed that he had been at the premises where the celebration was held on 17 June, 2020 but insisted that “at no point during that day did [he] attend a champagne celebration”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs refused to comment when asked if any of the officials who attended the event had been disciplined, or how many of the 20 individuals had since been promoted.
A spokesperson said that there was “nothing to add” to the Department’s previous statement on the matter, which was issued on 29 December.
Dublin, 14 January 2022
