EUROPEAN ASPIRATIONS:THERE WERE "hundreds" of approaches made about positions in the cabinet of Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European commissioner for research, innovation and science, according to senior political sources.
Posts in the cabinet, or private office, are greatly prized, and interested parties made approaches through a variety of channels. Green Party leader John Gormley said last night that he lobbied on behalf of Senator Déirdre de Búrca, but without success.
Green Minister of State Trevor Sargent said Taoiseach Brian Cowen also pushed for the Senator to be appointed.
The commissioner’s chef de cabinet is John Bell, a Dubliner who has worked with outgoing Bulgarian commissioner Meglena Kuneva and a previous Irish commissioner, David Byrne.
Ana Arana Antelo, head of the electricity and gas unit in the commission’s transport and energy division, is deputy chef de cabinet.
David Harmon, a Fianna Fáil official in the European Parliament who dealt with press matters for the party’s MEPs, has also joined the cabinet.
Another Irish member is Patricia Reilly, a senior civil servant in the Department of Agriculture in Dublin.
Shane Sutherland, an official in the cabinet of outgoing Irish commissioner Charlie McCreevy, has also joined Ms Geoghegan-Quinn’s cabinet. He is a son of businessman Peter Sutherland, a former EU competition commissioner. Waldemar Kuett, deputy head of outgoing science and research commissioner Janez Potocnik, is also a member.
Another member is Marion Dewar, a speechwriter in the Bureau of European Policy Advisers. She is daughter of the late Donald Dewar who was the first holder of the office of first minister in the Scottish Parliament from 1999 until his death the following year.
Asked by The Irish Timesin December if she was joining Ms Geoghegan-Quinn's cabinet, Ms de Búrca replied: "I've been made no offer so, therefore, it would be extremely inappropriate for me to comment." Efforts to contact Ms Geoghegan-Quinn's office for a comment on the matter last night were unsuccessful.
