One of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's closest friends and political allies, Joe Burke, has been reappointed chairman of the Dublin Port Company for a second five-year term.
Contrary to general expectation, however, the appointment is not going to Cabinet for approval, and the Department of Transport and the Marine says that Cabinet approval is not required.
The decision to reappoint Mr Burke was taken by outgoing minister of state for transport and the marine, Pat "The Cope" Gallagher, who made a series of port appointments during his last days in the post in June.
A department spokeswoman said yesterday: "Port board appointments are not brought to Cabinet for approval."
Previous indications that the reappointment of Mr Ahern's friend and financial backer was imminent aroused sharp Opposition criticism. Mr Burke has been named by the Taoiseach as one of those involved in a series of controversial payments to Mr Ahern in 1994.
He is due to give evidence to the Mahon tribunal on these payments and in regard to a series of allegations made against the Taoiseach by Tom Gilmartin.
The outgoing minister for transport and the marine, Martin Cullen, wrote to Mr Burke and to five other board members on June 13th, the previous government's last day in office, informing them of their reappointment.
However, when asked if a letter or memo had been sent to the Government about these reappointments, a department spokeswoman responded: "No. This does not happen for port appointments."
The other reappointed board members are former Galway East TD Tom Hussey, shipping businessman Brian Kerr, Cathy Bryce, of Allied Irish Bank, Jerry Kiersey and Tony Ennis. Fees for the board chairman are in the region of €15,000 while directors receive approximately €10,000 a year.
Mr Burke was one of the 12 people who contributed to the "dig-out", equivalent to €49,500, given to Mr Ahern in 1993 and 1994. Mr Burke's building firm went into liquidation in recent months with debts of up to €2 million.
He was made chairman of the Dublin Port Company five years ago. His appointment in the last days of the Fianna Fáil/PD coalition in 2002 also aroused Opposition criticism.
The Donegal-born builder has been close to Mr Ahern for over 20 years and was a Dublin city councillor between 1985 and 1991. He is also one of the trustees of Mr Ahern's constituency office at St Luke's in Drumcondra.
The term of office of the Dublin Port Company board and Mr Burke expired on April 24th, a month before the election, but no reappointments were made in the intervening two months.
