One of the plummiest jobs in the country should soon be available. The secondment of the director of the EC office in Dublin, Colm Larkin, to the new Northern Ireland administration is expected to be confirmed by the Commission in Brussels very soon. If he goes he will not return, so the position, a sort of EC ambassador who represents and promotes the Commission, will be available for the full five or six years. Many Irish Eurocrats at A3 level - i.e. £72,000 a year with European tax up to 45 per cent, plus perks - are already looking towards home with great interest. Although the new director need not be Irish - moves are afoot to open some staff jobs in EU capitals to non-nationals - or indeed even be a Commission employee, tradition dictates that he/she will be both.
The appointment will be made by the Commission and our man, Pee Flynn, can be expected to exercise an influence. The new incumbent will have to be well up on the euro and enlargement, the issues dominating the next couple of years. Names already being mentioned in Dublin are Joe Brosnan, chef de cabinet to Flynn and a former secretary at the Department of Justice, and Peter Doyle, co-ordinator of all external EC offices, who previously worked in the Dublin office and has served overseas, most notably in New York.