Tánaiste surprised by Cardiff rejection

The Government is to challenge MEPs who rejected its nomination of a senior finance chief to a top job in Europe, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has claimed.

The Budgetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament voted against career civil servant Kevin Cardiff for a role on the European Court of Auditors by a single ballot yesterday.

But Tánaiste Gilmore said the Government will not accept its decision as final and will stand by its nomination of Mr Cardiff, current secretary general of the Department of Finance.

“A report from that committee will go to the plenary session of the European Parliament and it’s the plenary session that makes the decision,” said Mr Gilmore.

The plenary session of the European Parliament is where the Parliament formally sits to vote European Union legislation and makes clear its own position on political issues.

Mr Gilmore said: “We were surprised at the motion that was taken at the committee yesterday and it didn’t reflect the discussion at the committee.

“Mr Cardiff is the Government’s nominee. That remains the position.”

The nomination of Mr Cardiff to the job, with a pay packet of about €276,000, has created much controversy in Dublin and Brussels as he has held some of the top roles in the Department of Finance in the last few years.

Mr Cardiff played a key role in the EU-IMF negotiations a year ago and was secretary general when a €3.6bn accounting error was this year discovered to have been double counted and incorrectly added to Government debt.

He was also present on the night of September 30 2008 when the Government agreed the €440bn bank deposit guarantee scheme.

The Tánaiste came under fire from Sinn Féin TD Mary Lou McDonald and Independent TD Shane Ross over the nomination of Mr Cardiff.

Mr Ross described yesterday’s vote against Mr Cardiff as a huge embarrassment.

“This result was a humiliation not just for the candidate, it was a humiliation for the Government and a humiliation for the country,” said Mr Ross.

He condemned the Government for nominating “the sole survivor” of the “shameful” night of the bank guarantee.

Meanwhile, Ms McDonald accused the Government of cronyism in nominating Mr Cardiff in the first place.

“The days where Government remove officials by promoting them to a job in Europe need to be left behind,” said Ms McDonald.

“We need real accountability at the top.”

Mr Gilmore insisted the Government’s decision to nominate Mr Cardiff was based purely on the fact that he was the most appropriate man for the job.

It has emerged that Taoiseach Enda Kenny asked his colleagues in the European People's Party to back Mr Cardiff in the vote, however the request was not supported.

Mr Ross said that's a humiliation for the entire country.

"They gave him a response - which was two fingers," Deputy Ross said.

"That is a humiliation for Ireland."

EU Innovation Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn meanwhile said Mr Cardiff won't be getting the job "by the back door".

Speaking in Dublin today Ms Geoghegan-Quinn said the Government will now have to engage with Europe on the matter, but refused to comment on whether he was the right man for the job.

Labour MEP Proinsias DeRossa said he believes Mr. Cardiff should not be judged on the decisions made by politicians during his term at the department.

"I'm convinced this is an honourable man, an honest man who has done an enormous amount of work on behalf of the Irish people over the last 27 years as a civil servant" he said.

"It is unfair that he is caught in the middle of a storm about issues which - by and large - he had no direct responsibility for as a civil servant".

"He made advice to the government, offered options to the government - it was the politicians who made the decision" Mr DeRossa added.

Meanwhile the deadline for applications to fill Mr Cardiff's position as Secretary General at the Department of Finance closes today.