The European Investment Bank has stalled its decision on whether to appoint Mr Hugh O'Flaherty as vice-president, saying it needs more time to consider the appointment because of the "unprecedented" level of outcry from the Irish public.
It emerged yesterday that the bank's directors decided at a meeting late last month that they needed the summer to "reflect" on whether to approve the appointment of the former Supreme Court judge.
The meeting took place some days after the Supreme Court ruled that putting Mr O'Flaherty's name forward for the post was not unconstitutional. It is believed the directors have been asked to vote on the appointment by post by next Thursday.
However, an EIB spokesman told The Irish Times it would take just one board member to say he did not want to take a vote now but wanted to discuss it at a full board meeting. There is no deadline for the £147,000-a-year job to be filled.
The EIB sent a letter to its directors on August 4th asking them to vote on the candidate. The directors also received a file with the hundreds of letters and e-mails from Irish people complaining about the proposed appointment of Mr O'Flaherty. Included in the file were details of 17 other candidates proposed from Ireland.
The spokesman said that while the bank had no control over who was proposed for such a post, which was the prerogative of a member-state, the board did have the power to reject it.
Yesterday Opposition pressure mounted on the Government to withdraw the nomination of Mr O'Flaherty. The Labour Party TD Ms Liz McManus claimed the Government's "tattered credibility" had been further undermined.
"This protracted and embarrassing debacle is clearly damaging our reputation among our European partners, and if this Government had a scintilla of self-respect it would withdraw the O'Flaherty nomination immediately," she said.
However, a spokesman for the Department of Finance said last night that the Government's choice of Mr O'Flaherty for the post had not changed, and they were awaiting the result of the EIB's voting procedures.
The EIB spokesman said such controversy surrounding an appointment was unprecedented in the history of the bank, which was established in 1958.
While it may be unfamiliar territory, the bank was determined to "act responsibly" and to take into account the debate in Ireland over the appointment, he said.
"I would like to make this absolutely clear that this is not a routine affair for us," the spokesman said.
On the basis of what it knew the board of directors would "exercise its statutory responsibility to decide whether it will give a negative or positive to the proposal made by the Irish Government".
The bank's statutes provide for a simple majority vote, requiring 13 votes to either accept or reject the candidate.
If accepted it would become a nomination, and the name would go forward to the board of governors, made up of the EU economic and finance ministers.
But even then, the spokesman said, it would be a case of "wait and see". Asked what would happen if the board rejected the nomination, he said: "I guess then it is for the Irish Government to take into consideration the decision by the board."
The Fine Gael spokesman for finance, Mr Michael Noonan, said the Government and Mr McCreevy, in particular, had always given the impression that once the Government nominated Mr O'Flaherty the management of the EIB would simply "rubberstamp" the Irish nomination.
"It now appears that the Minister for Finance has got it wrong once more. What began as an inappropriate and controversial appointment seems to be ending up as a fiasco," Mr Noonan said.