Taoiseach Brian Cowen has confirmed to the Dáil that he had spoken to Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn about the possibility of employing then senator Déirdre de Búrca in her Cabinet.
He also said the commissioner said she would not be employing Ms de Búrca after the Commission’s acceptance by the European parliament.
Ms de Búrca resigned her position as senator and her membership of the Green Party when she was turned down for a position in Ms Geoghegan-Quinn’s cabinet, claiming Fianna Fáil was “running rings” around the party.
She claimed she had been assured that she would get the job, and that the Greens had supported Ms Geoghegan-Quinn’s nomination as commissioner on that basis.
“I indicated there was an interest from Senator de Búrca,” Mr Cowen told Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore during leader’s questions in the Dáil.
“The commissioner, the nominee, was prepared to have a look at that and see if it that would be possible but not on the basis of any condition, precedent having been set on her part.
“She had yet to go to the parliament and her independence had to be accepted and was accepted and respected. The issue of the composition of her cabinet could only arise upon her being approved by the parliament.”
Mr Gilmore asked: “When did Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn tell you she wouldn’t be employing Senator de Búrca?”
Mr Cowen responded: “That would have arisen, at a date which I can’t be clear about, after her acceptance by the parliament for the position.”