The Government was urged yesterday not to re-appoint Mr Padraig Flynn as Ireland's EU Commissioner The Fine Gael foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Gay Mitchell, said the Dail still had "unfinished business" with Mr Flynn - a reference to his refusal to explain whether he received £50,000 from the property developer Mr Tom Gilmartin. Re-appointing him in these circumstances would be inappropriate, said Mr Mitchell.
That view was echoed by the Green Party. One of its MEPs, Ms Patricia McKenna, said Mr Flynn had "lost the confidence of the Irish people", although he had not specifically been criticised in the corruption and nepotism report that caused the EU Commissioners to resign.
The party's other MEP, Ms Nuala Ahern, said the mass resignations were a victory for the European Parliament. "Parliament's criticisms . . . should now be taken as the basis of reform," she urged.
The Labour Party spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, said those reforms should include power for MEPs to appoint, and remove, individual commissioners. This approach was shared by Fianna Fail MEP Mr Jim Fitzsimons, who suggested that such power should only be exercised by a majority of three-quarters of the MEPs.
His party colleague Mr Pat Cope Gallagher MEP said heads of government had to sort these matters out before the Berlin Summit, which begins this day week.
Meanwhile, the president of the IFA, Mr Tom Parlon, said he was confident that despite the crisis, the recent deal on the Common Agriculture Policy would still apply.
He told a special meeting of the organisation's national council in Dublin that he did not expect the budget debate to be reopened.
Mr Parlon said he expected the Germans would not want the matter of overrun in the budget to be reopened because it would cause a great deal of polarisation in Germany.
The EU agreement on the Common Agricultural Policy reform had clarified the policy framework for agriculture for the next six years. What had happened in Brussels was "disconcerting".
"It will create major challenges for the food-processing industry, Bord Bia and the Government to position Irish food internationally in the top range of quality and price," he said.
"The task is now to get Irish product prices off the bottom of the EU league and to close the gap with continental producers," said the IFA president.
"The IFA's damage limitation campaign has reduced the farm income loss from £260 million to £60 million in a deal negotiated by the Agriculture Minister, Mr Walsh. However, the outcome for grain growers and sheep was not good and we will redouble our efforts in these two sectors," he said.