A former European Commission chief accountant has criticised the Government’s plan to appoint the Department of Finance’s top civil servant to the European Court of Auditors early next year.
United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) MEP Marta Andreasen said Kevin Cardiff’s appointment should be withdrawn in light of the recent accounting error involving €3.6 billion at his department.
Ms Andreasen, an Argentinian-born Spaniard who was elected for Ukip in the last European Union elections, said although it is not known if Mr Cardiff is to blame for the error, “doubts” surround his appointment.
Last week, several TDs criticised Mr Cardiff during an Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee for being ultimately responsible for the error, in which the double counting of money borrowed by the Housing Finance Agency (HFA) resulted in the general government debt being overstated by €3.6 billion.
The double counting, flagged as a potential issue by the National Treasury Management Agency as far back as August 2010, was not detected by the Department of Finance until last week.
Speaking on RTÉ radio this morning Ms Andreason said: “When you chose somebody to become an auditor, this person should be beyond doubt . . . I think with Kevin we have doubts, and therefore he shouldn’t be considered for the post at all.
“Maybe it wasn’t him, maybe it was the system. Now they claim it was the system, but there are a lot of things being claimed to diminish the responsibility of Mr Cardiff - but the reality is he had the utmost responsibility of the accounts of Ireland, and that is the issue.”
Ms Andreason added that the controversy could be avoided by extending the mandate of another Irish member in the court of auditors.
Mr Cardiff has been secretary general at the Department of Finance since March 2010. His nomination to the European Court of Auditors for six years is subject to the approval of MEPs. A confirmation hearing before the budgetary control committee is expected this month.
Appointed by the Fianna Fáil-Green government in February 2010, Mr Cardiff was a key figure in the negotiation of Ireland’s EU-International Monetary Fund bailout and in the formulation of the bank guarantee.
Mr Cardiff is to succeed Eoin O’Shea, who was appointed to see out the second mandate of former Fianna Fáil minister Máire Geoghegan-Quinn when she took the science, research and innovation portfolio. Mr O’Shea will remain until his term expires in February.
A spokesperson for the Department of Finance later said the Government fully supports Mr Cardiff as a nominee for the post.
