It was a dismal ending to a sorry saga. But public sentiment is a fickle thing. And his belated recognition of the people's will may create a generous space for Hugh O'Flaherty in this developing Republic. The Coalition Government is unlikely to be so lucky. There was no recognition of the public scandal that had been caused in the response by Charlie McCreevy. Instead, the Minister for Finance expressed "disappointment" that Mr O'Flaherty should withdraw his name for the position as vice-president of the European Investment Bank.
But he understood the motivation.
Bertie Ahern did what he invariably does on these occasions: the Taoiseach took a temporary vow of silence and pretended the matter had nothing to do with him.
But Mary Harney recognised a moving bandwagon and jumped on it. The leader of the Progressive Democrats had suffered enough public odium for having supported and sustained the Government decision to recommend Mr O'Flaherty for that £147,000 job. And now that the unfortunate man had fallen on his sword, the Tanaiste was the first to count coup. It was, she intoned, with mawkish righteousness, the right thing to do.
The controversy over the nomination had been regrettable. And it would not have been desirable, she said, to force a divisive vote at the EIB.
One wonders what Ms Harney had been doing for the past couple of months. After all, it was her decision in Cabinet and the votes of her parliamentary party in the Dail that confirmed Mr O'Flaherty as the Government's choice for the high-profile position. If his decision to withdraw was correct, surely Ms Harney's support for his nomination was wrong?
But the Tanaiste's focus was immediate and political, looking at the inevitable failure of the Government's nomination, rather than its genesis.
Mr O'Flaherty was heading for a long drop, rather than for a cushy, five-year stint at the European Investment Bank. In spite of determined efforts by the Coalition Government and the exertions of Mr McCreevy, the European Investment Bank had refused to co-operate. Finance ministers from the member states might be the ones to formally rubber-stamp a nomination. But they first had to get their man past the bank's vetting process. That involved convincing senior finance officials who are directors of the bank that he was the right man for the job. They failed dismally.
In spite of political pressure and intensive lobbying, Mr O'Flaherty secured only six of the necessary 13 votes.
The writing had been on the wall for weeks, even since the president of the EIB, Philipe Maystadt had a quiet word in Mr O'Flaherty's ear. He did not have and would not get the support required to make the move to Brussels.
It was purely personal. The bank didn't think the former judge was the right man for the job, given the scandal that had surrounded his forced resignation from the Supreme Court because of the Sheedy affair. The bank didn't want to be accused of engaging in political cronyism, given the wave of political correctness that had recently swept the European Union.
And because the bank is technically independent of government direction, it was in a position to do something about it. It engaged in a campaign of passive resistance, rather than outright opposition. And its media briefings kept the controversy over the nomination simmering.
But with the Taoiseach, the Tanaiste and the Minister for Finance on holidays, nobody was prepared to mind the shop.
A hugely controversial decision had been taken by both Coalition parties and it would stand. A formal reversal of engines would create hellish bother and put Mr McCreevy under intense pressure.
A desperate appeal by Mr O'Flaherty in the Sunday Business Post, to be allowed to quit the race with his dignity intact, was ignored. A formal request from the Taoiseach or the Minister for Finance asking him to withdraw would be welcomed, he let it be known. But Mr O'Flaherty had used up all his political credit. Silence was the only response.
At the same time, Mr McCreevy - on his return from holidays - established that Mr O'Flaherty would be humiliated tomorrow when the board of management of the EIB finally brought the shutters down on the nomination.
From his home in Kerry, Mr O'Flaherty called a halt to the long-drawn-out torture. Lacking a helping hand from Mr Ahern or McCreevy, he fell on his own sword.
Expressing eternal gratitude to those who had favoured him for the position and who had treated him with courtesy and consideration, he offered "bua agus beannacht". It was a dignified letter from a defeated man.
After that, it was only a matter for the opposition parties to stomp all over the Coalition Government. Ruairi Quinn accused the Taoiseach, the Tanaiste and the Minister for Finance of engineering the whole thing through a breathtaking display of arrogance. They had ignored public opinion and placed Mr O'Flaherty and his family in an invidious position. Our standing in Europe had been tarnished and public confidence eroded, the Labour Party leader said.
Michael Noonan of Fine Gael went for the jugular. Charlie McCreevy should resign, he declared. The man who had staked his political judgment on the nomination of Mr O'Flaherty should draw the obvious conclusion.
And if the Coalition Government thought that was the end of the matter, Mr Noonan rubbed salt in the wound by calling for a sworn inquiry into the details of the Sheedy affair.
Martin Cullen tried to poo-poo the whole thing. The controversy might be big in Ireland, he said, but it was very small beans in Europe. In spite of that, the junior Minister stopped short of suggesting we will forget the whole thing in a matter of months.