Fine Gael last night called for some level of parliamentary scrutiny of the alternative candidate being put forward by the Government for the job of vice-president of the EIB.
The party said yesterday the Government should advertise the vacancy and that a shortlist of candidates should be required to appear before an appropriate Oireachtas committee to have their suitability assessed.
In a statement issued after a meeting of the Fine Gael front bench, the party said the Oireachtas committee would not be asked to choose from the shortlisted applicants, but would be requested to indicate to the Government the names of those candidates it considered "suitable".
Fine Gael said the Government's intention to adopt the same controversial procedure in nominating a new candidate showed that it had learned nothing from the O'Flaherty affair.
"Fine Gael in government will ensure all nominees for international positions are vetted by an appropriate committee of the Oireachtas," the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party deputy leader, Mr Brendan Howlin, said the Government was wrong if it believed the O'Flaherty affair would be forgotten.
He said the apparent belief of the Taoiseach, the Tanaiste and the Minister for Finance that, if they could avoid the cameras and microphones for a few days, the O'Flaherty affair could be written out of the political history of this government was "naive in the extreme".
He said the Government had just one item on its agenda - survival for as long as possible.