The former Department of Foreign Affairs secretary general who took a selfie of colleagues having a champagne party said he was “happy” for them to gather despite a previous department cancellation of “all on-site and off-site events”.
Sinn Fein’s Pearse Doherty has said the latest revelation blows open the line peddled by Government Ministers that it was an impromptu event.
Niall Burgess’s private secretary sent an email the day before a vote on Ireland’s accession to the UN Security Council on June 17, 2020, saying department staff could congregate “down the back of the political open-plan [office]” to watch it.
