Lockdown breach in yet another case of ‘rules for thee, but not for me’, this time in Irealnd.
The Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs has ordered an investigation into a lockdown breaking drinks party that occurred in his government department in 2020.
Simon Coveney ordered a report into a champagne party that occurred in his own department in June that year as draconian lockdown restrictions were imposed on the ‘little people’.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
While Coveney denied involvement in the shindig at Iveagh House, he admits he knew and failed to act.
Breitbart reports: Department officials have been accused of showing “utter contempt” for the Irish public after a picture emerged showing a number of senior figures drinking champagne together during one of Ireland’s periods of strict lockdown.
The image from the gathering — which took place after Ireland managed to obtain a temporary seat on the U.N. Security Council — also appears to show at least a partial lack of mask-wearing and social distancing at the event.
According to a report by the Irish Independent, a spokesman said that the minister made the request for a report on January 13, instructing that it should be ready by the end of the month.
However, the Irish Deputy Prime Minister (Tánaiste), Leo Varadkar, has said that those in government are limited in terms of what can be done to punish the actions of civil servants.
“Politicians do not have the power or authority to discipline civil servants,” Varadkar said during an interview described by one fellow Fine Gael Party Member as a “car crash”.
“We have authority over our political staff. We don’t have authority over civil servants,” the Deputy PM continued. “We have no power to reprimand them or discipline them. We don’t, that’s just the way our system works.”
Varadkar also said that it would be up to the Irish police force, An Garda Síochána, to investigate whether the Department of Foreign Affairs gathering was illegal or not.
While the Tánaiste tried to downplay the incident, emphasising that it occurred “18 months ago at this stage”, the emergence of the picture was met with outrage amongst many in Irish politics.
“This shows the utter contempt official mandarins have for the Irish people,” said Irish Freedom Party President Herman Kelly regarding the issue.
“It’s a case of ‘rules for thee don’t apply to me’,” Kelly continued. “Lockdown rules were clearly for the little people, the serfs and workers, not applied to the bosses and rulers.”
