A German member of the board of directors of the European Investment Bank has said that he intends to consult fellow board members on how best to proceed with the vote on Mr Hugh O'Flaherty's candidacy for the post of bank vice-president.
Mr Gerd Saupe, a senior official with the German Ministry of Finance, told The Irish Times that the proposed appointment was "clearly such a sensitive issue" that he wanted to make contact with others. "I'm just wondering what to do. I intend to contact other colleagues from other countries to see what they think", said Mr Saupe, who is one of the bank's 25 directors.
The result of the directors' vote is due on Friday. However, if Mr Saupe objected to the matter being decided by postal vote, then a full board meeting would have to be held to discuss the nomination.
Mr Saupe said he had "glanced through the file" sent by the EIB, containing the letters and e-mails from the Irish public complaining about the nomination, as well as at media clippings and details of the other people proposed for the position.
"I glanced through them, but it is a sensitive issue, and I can't go any further than that. Our options are to say `yes' or `no', or to abstain from voting, or not to do anything at all."
Usually, he said, it would have been spontaneous to have a favourable response to "what our Irish friends propose". He added: "We all appreciate most highly the Irish. Normally it [an appointment] would go as proposed, but I really don't know what to do yet. There is a political angle to this and I am trying to get a grasp on it."
Traditionally, Ireland has rotated this seat with Denmark and Greece. The Danish representative on the board, Mr Lars Tybjerg, a deputy permanent secretary at the Danish Economy Ministry, said that his government was still satisfied with the Irish Government's choice and was aware of Mr O'Flaherty's threatened impeachment last year.
He felt it would be very unlikely that Mr O'Flaherty would be turned down for the post and said this judgment was based on "experience and the candidate nominated". He added: "Of course, we would prefer to be without such controversy."
Some board members, he said, "might not be happy with all the noise coming out of Dublin" and could seek to discuss the matter at the next meeting in September rather than decide now. They might wish to put questions to the Irish representative, Mr Noel O'Gorman, second secretary-general at the Department of Finance.
This would mean a slight delay in making the decision, he said. "It is true the bank will not fall apart if the decision is not taken this week. We [Danes] think the candidate proposed by the Irish Minister for Finance is one we would like to see. We see no reason to change our mind."
He pointed out that protests were easier to make with the advent of e-mail. Some e-mails he had seen were very similar in content, almost identical, which led him to suspect that they may have been centrally organised.
A third director, Mr Jos de Vries, an official at the Dutch Ministry of Finance, said that he had "whole sheaves of paper on Mr O'Flaherty" on his desk. However, he had not got round to reading any of them because of an emergency at work, which meant that he would not be able to read the file or to cast his vote this week.
Mr de Vries pointed out that his vote was not necessary, since a simple majority of 13 was needed to either accept or reject Mr O'Flaherty's appointment.
Another director, Mr Sinbad Coleridge, a project finance director at the EFG private bank in London, said when asked his opinion of the controversy: "I have no doubt that the Irish Government will make it clear to everybody what they wish to happen." Asked whether he believed this week's vote should go ahead, Mr Coleridge said that the board of directors would make up its mind "in due course".