Irish government officials have been accused of showing “utter contempt” for the public after a picture emerged showing at least 20 individuals attending a lockdown-breaking party in a government building.
At least 20 Irish government employees and senior officials attended a champagne party during a period of harsh lockdown in the country in June of last year.
The party — which occurred after Ireland was elected to a temporary position on the UN Security Council in 2020 — was held at Iveagh House, a government-owned building serving as the headquarters of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
A photograph from the event shows high profile individuals without masks and not showing any regard for physical distancing, the Irish Independent reported.
According to the paper, those present in the photograph are Ireland’s now-ambassador to France, Niall Burgess, the now-ambassador to the Netherlands, Brendan Rogers, and the former head of Ex-PM Leo Varadkar’s Strategic Communications Unit, John Concannon.
“This shows the utter contempt official mandarins have for the Irish people,” the president of the Irish Freedom Party, Hermann Kelly, told Breitbart London.
“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.”
The Iveagh House event occurred during a period of extreme lockdown in Ireland when individuals were prohibited by government diktat from even leaving their own county.
Going to regular Sunday church services was also banned at the time, with all regular religious ceremonies being forced to take place exclusively online.
While there were exceptions put in place for funerals, a hard attendance cap of 25 meant that many were legally unable to be present as their close family and friends were laid to rest.
The department blamed “a moment of happiness” for the event, and said that “lessons have been learned” from what happened, according to the Irish Independent,
Ireland is far from the only country in western Europe where officials have been questioned regarding their actions during lockdowns.
In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under sustained fire over alleged gatherings at No 10 Downing Street last year, during periods of intense lockdown.
While the PM has maintained that lockdown restrictions were always followed, others have remained unconvinced, with some Labour MPs going so far as to report the PM to the police. No formal investigation has been launched as of yet, however.
Meanwhile, Johnson has been accused of employing distraction tactics via the implementation of lockdown measures in order to supposedly draw attention away from the alleged lockdown violations.
The Dutch Royal Family has also found itself on the wrong side of nationwide restrictions over a birthday bash held for the family’s crown princess. News of the lockdown breaking gathering arose just days after the Netherlands was thrown into another Christmas-cancelling Lockdown.
Government figures claim that around 21 people attended the lockdown-breaking event, though sources told Dutch publication De Telegraaf that as many as 100 may have attended the event.
At the time, a maximum of four people were permitted to visit another person’s home.
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