Lately Ireland has been hit by the recurring , all season crony virus. The Zappone affair involved a former minister for children and an abortion advocate who had decamped to the U.S. to live out her retirement after losing her seat, proposed herself for the job of special envoy to the U.N. Her remit was to be Freedom of Expression. She’s 70 so this was a nice little earner for the sunset years. She was appointed by fiat which annoyed the public greatly sunk as we are in the most repressive covid regime in Europe beset with contradictory guidelines. No other candidates were interviewed, the job was a pure invention. As the government was weathering the storm for this stroke it was revealed that she had hosted a garden party for 50 guests two weeks prior to her appointment which had been attended by government figures. No masks, no covid passports just a general love in with tables for 6 scattered in the ample garden of a posh hotel near the parliament buildings. What? The populace are forbidden communion, confirmation and all kinds of celebrations for fear of the ‘plague’. A priest saying an open air mass for 20 people was stopped by the police and fined 500€.
It’s the small things that catch them out, the stuff that isn’t complicated which refuses to spin. Bring on the Attorney General who explained that if you looked at the actual emergency legislation an open air gathering of 200 people was permissible so by retrospective legal legerdemain it was all ok. Why had not this been made clear to all other hotels who didn’t know about this and lost a great deal of revenue through obedience to guide lines which were restrictive.
An ex T.D. (member of parliament)Sean Kyne, now an appointee to the Senate was sent out to meet the media. He explained -
“The garden party was legal but the guidelines were not followed”.
In the end Zappone resigned the position and is now back in New York. There’s a saying - “The back of one is the face of another”.
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