THE REJECTION of Kevin Cardiff for a €276,000-a-year position on the European Court of Auditors may be referred back to the EU committee that ruled against him in light of revelations about lobbying carried out by current Irish member, barrister Eoin O’Shea.
The budgetary control committee of the European Parliament failed to approve Mr Cardiff’s nomination by a single vote this week, but the emergence of an e-mail sent by Mr O’Shea could lead to a change of heart.
When he heard on October 6th that the Government was not proposing him for reappointment, Mr O’Shea sent an e-mail to the Socialist and Christian Democrat whips of the committee. He wrote that Mr Cardiff “was responsible for financial supervision during the period of the collapse of the Irish banks”.
He suggested there would be “further details in respect of this appointment” in connection with the “window-dressing” of the accounts of Anglo-Irish Bank by Irish Life and Permanent to the tune of €7 billion.
Mr O’Shea, a Fianna Fáil appointee associated with former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, was reporting to a Leinster House committee yesterday on the work of the court of auditors when the e-mail message was produced by Galway East Labour TD Colm Keaveney.
Mr Keaveney said later the e-mail was given to him following a request to a staff member of the Parliamentary Labour Party for background information on Mr O’Shea.
Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs, Labour TD Joe Costello, last night phoned the head of the European Parliament budget committee, Dutch MEP Jan Mulder. Mr Mulder said he intends to examine the e-mail and then decide whether any further action is warranted.
European People’s Party (Christian Democrat) whip on the budget committee, German MEP Ingeborg Grässle, told RTÉ news she would request the December plenary session of the parliament to refer the nomination back to the committee.
Dublin Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa claimed Mr O’Shea “also directly approached MEPs from other member states”.