By Andrew Bushe
DUBLIN — A major row has blown up about the government’s nomination of former Supreme Court Justice Hugh O’Flaherty to the Luxembourg-based job of vice president of the European Investment Bank.
Justice O’Flaherty, 62, was forced to resign last year from his £95,000 a year job in an unprecedented judicial and constitutional crisis surrounding the early release of a man convicted of drunk driving and causing the death of a mother of two.
O’Flaherty, who had been tipped as a possible chief justice, only got his £40,000 pension after special legislation was passed by the Oireachtas. His new salary will be the same as that of an EU commissioner.
The main opposition parties have criticized the nomination of O’Flaherty by Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy with unusual vehemence.
Labor leader Ruairi Quinn said he was "flabbergasted" by the move in a week in which the Dail had debated confidence in politics as a result of the sleaze scandals.
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"This government threatened to impeach former Justice O’Flaherty," Quinn said. "Is this £147,000 job an appropriate reward for somebody who declined to cooperation with an Oireachtas committee?"
Quinn said the decision was contemptuous of the Dail. "Is it any wonder that cynicism about politics is growing?"
Fine Gael Finance spokesman Michael Noonan said he was "amazed and appalled." He said he thought the considerations that led to the judge’s resignation would also apply to his appointment to any other high public office.
He said the expectation in Leinster House was that the job would go to former PD leader Desmond O’Malley. If that had happened, O’Malley would have received cross-party approval.
Fine Gael have scheduled a Dail motion for this week condemning the appointment.
The case that led to O’Flaherty’s resignation revolved around Philip Sheedy, a Dublin architect who was convicted of drink driving in March 1996. Sheedy was to sentenced to four years in prison in 1997 but was released early in still not fully explained circumstances.
O’Flaherty had no direct connection with the case but gave advice to a sister of Sheedy when he met her with a friend on the street. He denied any wrong doing.
A report by the then Chief Justice Liam Hamilton, described O’Flaherty’s conduct as "inappropriate and unwise," although he accepted his involvement was grounded in a spirit of "humanitarian interest."
A High Court judge and a senior court official also resigned in the controversy.
Aspects of the row have never been fully explained because the judges refused to cooperate with a parliamentary inquiry on the basis of the separation of powers between the judiciary and executive.
The only way a judge can be removed is through a Clinton-style impeachment via a vote of both Dail and Seanad. It has never happened.
The EIB job rotates among Ireland, Denmark and Greece and O’Flaherty’s nomination comes before the bank’s annual general meeting on June 5. Each country now holds it for four years. The position was last occupied by Ireland by Professor Noel Whelan in 1982-88.
O’Flaherty will have responsibility for regional development policy and financing operations in the three countries and in Albania, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey and countries of the former Yugoslavia.