Accountants Institute: EU will benefit from McCreevy

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) has offered its congratulations to Charlie McCreevy on his appointment as Ireland’s next European Commissioner.

ICAI President, Terence O’Rourke, said that the institute, of which Mr McCreevy is a member, "were proud of his particularly successful and lengthy tenure as Minister for Finance".

Mr O'Rourke wished him every success in Europe and is hopeful that the Taoiseach "will secure a high profile economic Commissionership" for Mr McCreevy as recognition "not just of the Minister's personal qualities but also of Ireland’s successful presidency of the European Union".

Mr O'Rourke said: "There is no doubt that business has profited under Charlie McCreevy’s tenure as Minister for Finance.

"But it has been proved that when business is afforded the conditions in which to prosper, it has a considerable positive impact on society at large.

"As a large membership body, not all our members will agree with every decision made by the Minister, but I think they will concur that Charlie took decisions from a clear philosophical perspective which he believed to be in the interests of the State and society at large.

"We wish him well in Europe and believe that the European Union will now benefit from the application of his considerable talents."