The Hugh O'Flaherty affair has, mirabile dictu, reached the House of Lords. Lord Stoddart of Swindon tabled four questions asking Her Majesty's Government if any pressure was exerted by the Government of the Republic of Ireland on the Board of Directors of the EIB to make the appointment; what qualifications in banking or finance Justice O'Flaherty had to make him suitable to be vice-president; why such vacancies are not advertised; and finally whether HMG would seek to defer the appointment until proceedings in the Irish courts seeking an injunction had been decided. They were listed for written answer on July 7th.
Why, Quidnunc wonders, is Lord Stoddart so concerned? Well, the former Labour MP for Swindon is a well known Euro-sceptic and chairman of the Campaign for an Independent Britain. He was alerted to our little local row by Anthony Coughlan of the National Platform, our well known Euro-critic. Coughlan is a member of TEAM, the collection of 40 different Euro-critical groups organised in 15 countries, and he has informed them all of this "flawed" nomination. He hopes questions will also be asked in the Danish parliament since the Danes, the Greeks and ourselves are joint nominators of O'Flaherty.
The Danish minister for finance, Coughlan says, "should not put himself in a conflict of interest situation by supporting, or appearing to support, a purported nomination by his Irish fellow bank governor (Charlie McCreevy) that is made on the basis of political patronage and cronyism".
And what has HMG replied to Lord Stoddart's four very pointed questions? A spokesman said the questions were taken as one and answered by the Treasury, as follows, this week. "Nominations for posts in the EU are traditionally matters for the nominating states."
Quidnunc is at rholohan@irish-times.ie