he event was held six days before he appointed her as a special envoy for freedom of expression and opinion.
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe was invited but did not attend, although he did meet Ms Zappone for a coffee in the days leading up to her appointment.
Read More
Mr Coveney’s spokesperson said the first the minister knew about the event was from reports in the Irish Independent.
Six days after the Merrion Hotel party, Mr Coveney brought a memo to the Cabinet seeking to create a taxpayer-funded special envoy role for Ms Zappone.
He did not advertise the position or consider any other candidate for the job.
It came with a salary of around €15,000 a year plus expenses.
Mr Coveney informed his Fine Gael ministerial colleagues of the proposed appointment before the Cabinet meeting on July 27.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin only learned of the proposal to give the former Independent minister the job at the last cabinet meeting before the Dáil recess.
Mr Martin has since said the appointment process should have been handled better.
Mr Coveney was forced to defend the appointment during an interview on RTÉ Radio 1’s News At One, during which he suggested special advisers were at fault for not alerting the Taoiseach to the appointment.
However, when asked if he was blaming his advisers for the controversy, he backtracked and accepted responsibility.
Mr Varadkar initially suggested Ms Zappone approached the Government about working as a special envoy.
However, Mr Coveney contradicted him and said he approached Ms Zappone about taking up the role.
Just over a week after she was appointed, Ms Zappone stepped down from the role when details of her party emerged.
Mr Varadkar has apologised for his attendance at the event, as has Labour Party TD Ivana Bacik.
Ms Zappone has not apologised for the party, which forced the Attorney General Paul Gallagher to issue legal advice and resulted in the Government issuing new guidelines for the hospitality industry.
She did not respond yesterday to requests for comment.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has said the controversy undermined public confidence in the Government.
However, his chief of staff Donall Geoghegan has not made any comment on his attendance at the party.