Champagne celebration was ‘wrong’, report into incident at DFA concludes

The former secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs Niall Burgess has been asked to make a donation to charity worth €2000 in light of a champagne party held in the department in 2020.

A report into the event has found “a breach of social distance guidance occurred” when staff came together physically to celebrate Ireland’s election to the UN security council.

“This breach was captured in a photograph taken by the then secretary general. Staff were not observing social distancing requirements at the time of the photo. Many had glasses of alcohol in their hands to toast the outcome,” the report says.

The report says that the “nature of the response to the outcome of the vote was wrong.”

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“It has caused offence, inflicted reputational damage on the Department and undermined internal morale.”

The photograph from the event showed a group of around 20 officials huddled in an office at the department’s headquarters, drinking bottles of Moët & Chandon without face coverings or regard for physical distancing.

The report says that by “providing alcohol and organising a group photograph, the then secretary general was largely responsible for facilitating the breach of social distance guidance that occurred.

“He also placed colleagues, particularly more junior ones, in a difficult position. His actions were uncharacteristic errors of judgement. He sincerely regrets this.”

The Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs Joe Hackett delivered his report to the Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney on Monday morning.

Mr Hackett has said that he has now asked Mr Burgess to make a donation to a charity providing assistance to people affected by Covid in the amount of €2,000 and the three other senior officials involved to make a similar donation in the amount of €1,000. Each of the officials concerned has agreed to do so.

“The Department will enhance transparency around official events. We will publish on a six-monthly basis a list of official hospitality events hosted in Iveagh House along with related costs. The guidelines on the hosting of official events will be updated and made available publicly.

“ The Department will also reform its policy and guidance on the use of social media for official purposes to include enhanced clearance and oversight arrangements.”

The review team met with 25 members of the Department’s staff over a number of days. The team found that there was “no evidence” of a pre-planned celebration in the event of a successful outcome and that no invitations were sent.

Sparkling wine

It found that after the result of the vote was announced, Mr Burgess provided three bottles of sparkling wine from “personal items he kept in his office for use as gifts and which he purchased at his own expense”.

“The alcohol was subsequently offered to those present. One other officer confirmed that they provided one bottle of sparkling wine which they had retrieved from their office.”

At the time of the announcement about the security council there were 21 officers in the open plan space in the department.

“Two of the 21 officers present were on maternity leave at the time and attended the building to join colleagues for the announcement of the results and to offer advice and support as necessary. Both individuals had worked on the campaign and were considered to be key members of the team. One of the officers concerned attended with her nursing infant,” it found.

It found that a “serious breach of social distancing guidance occurred in the period immediately following the outcome of the vote”.

“Following the announcement of the results, a breach of guidance on social distancing occurred. The then Secretary General wanted to acknowledge the achievement of Ireland’s election. However, by providing alcohol and requesting a group of 20 officers to congregate for the purposes of a photo, he facilitated a breach of the guidance. Although brief, this was a serious breach.”

The review also found that there was no evidence that Mr Coveney breached guidelines.

“The then Tanaiste returned to Iveagh House and visited the UN Policy Unit. He made remarks congratulating the team on the outcome and thanked them for their contribution to the successful result.

“On the basis of accounts provided, the Review Team estimates that the then Tanaiste was present in the open plan space for approximately 15 minutes. The Review Team received no evidence that public health advice was breached at that time.”