The board of directors of the European Investment Bank still has no official nomination from the Government for its vice-presidency post, a senior spokesman for the bank told The Irish Times yesterday.
However, a spokesman for the Department of Finance insisted that the bank's directors were vo ting by post this week and if everything went without a hitch, the former Supreme Court judge, Mr Hugh O'Flaherty, could be appointed to the £147,000-a-year job within weeks.
A letter has been sent by the EIB to directors, he said, telling them that Mr O'Flaherty had been nominated by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, "by common accord" with Denmark and Greece, the countries with which Ireland has traditionally rotated the post. However, the EIB spokesman said he was not aware of this process and would "strongly doubt" that the board of directors would vote on such a "sensitive issue" by post. While they were entitled to do so, such a step was only usually taken for "smaller loan decisions" and their decision would be ratified at the new board meeting.
He said the EIB was aware of the "public disquiet and turmoil" in Ireland as a result of the O'Flaherty controversy, but emphasised the board of directors had not been formally asked to consider his candidacy at their next meeting in September. "There is no formal proposal made by the Irish Government to the board of directors to appoint Mr O'Flaherty or anyone else."
While the board of directors would discuss the general issue of appointments as a result of the controversy in Ireland, he did not expect this specific appointment to be on the agenda. Asked if it was possible that the board of directors could turn down the nomination, he said it was impossible to comment because "it has never been an issue before . . . we have never experienced such a debate on a candidate."
The Department of Finance spokesman said the decision of the directors on Mr O'Flaherty, if favourable, would go to the board of governors - the economic and finance ministers of the EU member-states. It was possible, he said, to ratify the decision without a meeting of the boards of directors or governors.
The directors had a free vote and a majority vote was required. While it was up to the EIB, if the nomination proceeded without any further hitches, Mr O'Flaherty could be appointed within weeks. If the nomination had gone ahead without any legal challenges, he said, Mr McCreevy would have informed the board of governors of his nomination at a meeting in early July and it would have gone through.
However, because of the challenge by the Limerick college lecturer, Mr Denis Riordan, Mr McCreevy had asked the bank to put the nomination on hold. Since the board of governors only met one or two times a year, it was now necessary to make contact by post with the board of directors, which is made up of senior civil servants from EU countries.
The Supreme Court ruled almost three weeks ago that putting Mr O'Flaherty's name forward for the position was not in breach of the Constitution.
"Because the board of governor's meeting has taken place, the mechanism for an appointment like this can take place as a written procedure. The board of directors this week will have received the nomination for the appointment of a vice-president to the EIB," the Department of Finance spokesman said.