A bouquet of flowers left outside the Dublin home of Mr Hugh O'Flaherty in Sandymount yesterday. Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons
The Fine Gael leader has said a Dail committee should have the power to question nominees to major jobs within the gift of the Government. Mr John Bruton has also urged the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, to consider others who have applied for the post of vice-president of the European Investment Bank (EIB).
In other Opposition reaction yesterday to Mr Hugh O'Flaherty's withdrawal, the Labour spokesman on finance, Mr Derek McDowell, said Mr McCreevy's position was untenable, adding that the controversy was "the latest in a series of own goals scored by the Minister for Finance".
The Green Party said it would challenge the Government on the issue when the Dail resumes in October, while the president of Sinn Fein, Mr Gerry Adams, called for the setting up of a public appointments commission, "to remove the power of the present or future governments to indulge in cronyism or jobs for the boys".
Mr Bruton predicted that the controversy would be "a huge subliminal issue" at the next election.
He added that there had to be a transparent process, whereby it was clear that while the Government could take political considerations into account, it had to put forward the best possible applicant for such posts.
"Clearly, that did not happen in this case. The Government, in effect, was asking Europe to accept standards regarding an appointment that the same Government would not have accepted in regard to retention of a seat on the Supreme Court. And that hypocrisy was visible in Europe, and not acceptable to Europe."
Mr Bruton said that there were now more than 20 applicants for the post, some of them with relevant qualifications. Some had been involved at a very high level in banking, others had a very deep economic or environmental knowledge.
"I believe that there are many people, once they have taken the trouble to apply, who ought to be considered, and seen to be considered, by the Government, before any decision is made.
"The Government should not repeat the mistake it made of making a decision to nominate Hugh O'Flaherty, which was probably contrary to the spirit of the Constitution in the sense that it was announced before it was even considered by the Cabinet." Mr Bruton, in an RTE Radio interview with Sean O'Rourke, said that all major national and international appointments by the Government should be subject to scrutiny by a Dail committee.
"That net should extend to full-time appointments, not to people who are appointed to a committee which meets once a month, but to where someone is being appointed to a full-time position which is the gift of the Irish State. "
He believed, he said, that a Dail committee should scrutinise and interview nominees, with the Government retaining the discretion on whether to go ahead or not.
Asked if he was referring to domestic posts, such as judicial appointments and heads of semi-state companies, Mr Bruton replied: "I believe we should look carefully at that possibility also. I think we should certainly start with international appointments.
"But there is a case, I believe also, for some independent process for scrutinising applicants for senior positions in the judiciary. It is wrong, in my view, that judges should feel themselves in a position that they know that their promotion within the judiciary depends on the political discretion of a party-political government. "That, potentially, can have an adverse effect on their approach to their job, and I believe it is something that would be avoided if we had a more arms-length process for the selection of judges."
Mr Bruton said that when his party was in government it had changed the method of judicial appointments to remove it somewhat from the political sphere.
"But I would acknowledge that Denis Riordan has taught us all a lesson about the need to be more accountable and transparent in the way we select and put forward people for jobs."
He said that Mr O'Flaherty's nomination was "a gross political error" and added that the controversy had done enormous damage to the credibility of the Government. "I think, in many ways, the people involved, Bertie Ahern, Mary Harney and Charlie McCreevy, who have shown themselves capable of making such a huge political mistake, are not really going to be taken as seriously as they would be by the public.
"People will, perhaps, treat them as office-holders, as they are, but will, behind the smile, have a sense that they are dealing with people who are not entirely up to the job," Mr Bruton said.
Mr Derek McDowell, the Labour finance spokesman, said that Mr McCreevy had been embroiled in controversy since taking office. "His last Budget was effectively rejected by the Dail and the public, he has allowed inflation to get out of control, causing great hardship to people on fixed and low incomes, and now his nominee to the board of the EIB has been forced to withdraw in the most humiliating and ignominious fashion possible, when it became clear there was no prospect of the bank agreeing to it.
"It is virtually unprecedented for a major European institution to reject a government's nominee to such a senior position. Where does this leave Mr McCreevy's credibility with our European partners ?
"Mr McCreevy is a lame-duck Minister. If he believes in the concept of political accountability, he should resign immediately. Since he took office, Mr McCreevy has shown that he is unable to listen to, or take on board, the views of others. He has revelled in showing arrogance and disdain towards individuals and groups who have opposed him." The Dublin South East Green Party TD, Mr John Gormley, welcomed Mr O'Flaherty's withdrawal, adding that his party would ask the Government to account for its actions when the Dail resumes in October. "It has been a traumatic time for Mr O'Flaherty and his family, and it was the right thing to do. From the Government's point of view, it has been a debacle and the controversy has tarnished our reputation abroad."
Mr Adams said that all the establishment political parties, who had been in power, had been guilty of political patronage.
