The Government faces new pressure to withdraw the nomination of former Supreme Court Judge Mr Hugh O'Flaherty as vice-president of the European Investment Bank after it suffered the embarrassment yesterday of failing to secure sufficient votes from the EIB'S 25 directors for the proposal.
The proposed nomination of Mr O'Flaherty to the £147,000-a-year post, a move which has caused huge political damage to Fianna Fail and the PDs since it was announced in May, now hangs in the balance after only a handful of directors voted by yesterday's 5 p.m. deadline.
The Government and the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, face fresh backbench pressure to withdraw the nomination. One Fianna Fail TD told The Irish Times last night that seeing that EIB directors were clearly having difficulty giving their full backing to Mr O'Flaherty for the job, the Government should eat humble pie and put forward a new candidate.
Backbenchers concerned at the decision to propose Mr O'Flaherty for the post following his resignation from the bench over the Philip Sheedy affair were assured by senior party figures before the Dail recess that the nomination would be ratified by the EIB and that there would be no problems in Europe with the proposal.
The EIB spokesman, Prof Alfred Steinherr, confirmed last night that only a handful of votes had been submitted from the 25 directors by close of business yesterday. However, he told The Irish Times that any late votes submitted next week would be accepted. He said because of the holiday period some of the directors may not have been in a position to vote and that yesterday's deadline was not a strict one.
However, all directors were circulated with the file on Mr O'Flaherty on August 4th last.
Mr O'Flaherty needs a simple majority of 13 of the 25 votes to have his nomination secured. It is not known if any of the votes received by yesterday were against the proposal to nominate Mr O'Flaherty.
Prof Steinherr said it was likely the EIB would next week attempt to contact the directors who did not vote to see what their position is.
"As of now there are insufficient votes. We have to see what happens next week and then decide how to proceed from there," he added.
With the poor response and the procedural confusion over what to do next, it is increasingly likely that the issue will now be put on the agenda for discussion at the next full meeting of directors scheduled for September 19th.
But there will be an opportunity for EU finance ministers to discuss the matter at the informal Ecofin meeting to be held in Versailles on September 9th and 10th.
A Government spokesman said last night the matter was in the hands of the EIB. Department of Finance officials contacted the EIB yesterday evening to clarify what the position was with the nomination. A spokesman said the Department understood that yesterday's deadline was a "target deadline".
The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, said the failure of Mr O'Flaherty to have the nomination endorsed was a further humiliation for Ireland. He said the "pride of a few people" was causing the Government to make a huge mistake.
The Green Party spokesman on economic and social affairs, Mr Dan Boyle, said the nomination had been transformed from a farce to a nightmare for all concerned and it undermined Ireland's credibility internationally.
Mr O'Flaherty could not be contacted for comment last night.