The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, said yesterday in Beijing that she had brought the name of Fine Gael TD Mr Jim Mitchell to the Taoiseach and Minister for Finance as a possible candidate for the vice-presidency of the European Investment Bank (EIB). However, his was only one of a number of names they discussed for the post, she said.
Asked to comment on whether she had favoured Mr Mitchell for the appointment, she said: "I don't generally comment on what are private conversations."
She said: "I got a phone call - I didn't initiate the phone call - from a mutual friend and, in a conversation about other matters, Jim Mitchell's name emerged. It would have been irresponsible of me not to ask the question - `Is he interested?' - and that's all I did."
The Tanaiste said: "Naturally if a name emerges you always ask is the person interested, particularly if it's somebody of the calibre and standing and experience of Jim Mitchell. And that's what I did. "I don't understand why there could be a controversy about that matter, why somebody should think that there was something improper in relation to that."
The businessman Mr Ulick McEvaddy was the intermediary in an approach to Mr Mitchell.
Asked if she mentioned Mr Mitchell as someone she favoured for the post, she replied, "That did not arise. Jim Mitchell said he wasn't interested so clearly if he's not interested he was not in the frame. "But a number of people, two individuals, wrote to me, people of enormous experience in the public sector, for example, expressing an interest. Others put forward other names to me and when I met with the Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach last Tuesday we discussed all of the names that had been put forward. "We were very strong in our support for the candidate that has emerged, Michael Tutty."
Speaking at the ECOFIN meeting in Versailles, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, said, "Prior to the nomination in May and since the O'Flaherty withdrawal a whole lot of names were considered by me." He said they would remain confidential, "in fairness to the candidates".
Mr McCreevy added: "I can assure you I did not involve anyone in the process since O'Flaherty's name was withdrawn."
