Cabinet to discuss Cardiff rejection

The Cabinet will today discuss the decision of MEPs to reject the Government's nominee to the European Court of Auditors.

Kevin Cardiff, former secretary general at the Department of Finance, was deemed unsuitable for the plum European job by a budget control committee of the European Parliament.

The Government has already advertised for his departement job with today being the closing date for applications.

It was expected that Mr Cardiff would move to Luxembourg as Ireland's nominee on the European Court of Auditors.

But yesterday, MEPs in Brussels threw a spanner in the works - rejecting his application after an hour long interview.

Last night the Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the Government would have to consider its options.

It is still open to Mr. Cardiff to put his application to a vote of the full European Parliament , but he has already stated that if the committee rejected him, he would not pursue the job any further.

The rejection is an embarrassing blow to the Government and Ministers must now decide if he's to return to his old job as head of the Department of Finance.