The Irish Times view on special-envoy appointments: learning lessons

The botched appointment of Katherine Zappone as a special envoy at the United Nations rattled the Government last summer, dominating headlines and casting a harsh light on Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney. The selection of a former colleague – Zappone had served as an Independent minister up until June 2020 – to the part-time position, the absence of any competition for the role, and Coveney's dismissive responses to the controversy combined to cause him real problems. The fact that Taoiseach Micheál Martin was not informed about the appointment until it came up at Cabinet made a bad situation worse.

The recommendations for future special envoy appointments are straightforward and obvious – so obvious that it's not clear why they were not always in place

Almost six months on, the controversy has had some positive effects. A review into special envoy appointments in the Department of Foreign Affairs made recommendations that would result in a more open, accountable and transparent approach. The review, along with documents released this week under the Freedom of Information Act, show that the impact of a special envoy, as with all diplomacy, can be hard to measure. The report's authors concluded that Zappone added "status" to Ireland's campaign for a seat on the UN Security Council, but they naturally have no idea whether she had any effect on the outcome. And yet for relatively little investment, when properly conceived, the roles can address clear gaps. For example, one former diplomat, in the role of special envoy to Francophone Africa, provided one of the few official Irish contact-points in a vast region where the department until recently had no diplomatic missions.

The recommendations for future special envoy appointments are straightforward and obvious – so obvious that it’s not clear why they were not always in place. Future roles will need to be backed up by valid business cases, be consistent with foreign policy objectives, address a clear gap and be filled using fair, transparent hiring procedures.

The mishandling of Zappone’s appointment showed a lack of political nous. But the root problem was a system that was ad hoc, informal and opaque.