Calls For Information Commissioner To Investigate Alleged Breaches Of The Law In Ministerial Text Scandal

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy has written to the Information Commissioner (see notes), Peter Tyndall, asking him to investigate whether Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney TD breached the Freedom of Information Act by deleting text messages about the proposed appointment of Katherine Zappone to the position of UN Special Envoy.

He also questioned if the Green Party, who are partners in government with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, were comfortable standing over the actions of their colleagues in government.

He said: “The Information Commissioner should now investigate if the FOI Act has been breached by Minister Coveney. It is quite clear that the statements of the Minister at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence and the revelations that he deleted texts relating to the proposed appointment of Katherine Zappone require investigation.

“If it is the case that the Minister’s phone was compromised in a data breach, who did he report this to at the time and what other messages did he delete? Or did he only delete messages from Leo Varadkar on the Katherine Zappone appointment?

“I would further ask the Green Party if they are comfortable standing over the actions of their colleagues in government.”