The deed is done. The Supreme Court has cleared the way for Mr Hugh O'Flaherty to leave our shores as the Government's preferred candidate for the post of vice-president of the European Investment Bank. There is to be no reference to the European Court of Justice of a matter to be determined solely by Irish national law. The court, from which Mr O'Flaherty was forced to resign last year under the threat of impeachment proceedings for actions damaging to the administration of justice, has ruled that the EIB "will normally accept the name of the person put forward for appointment in this manner".
With the nomination procedure completed "at this end", as the Minister for Finance's spokeswoman said yesterday, it is now over to the bank to make a determination unique in its short history. Never before has a nomination by a member State of the European Union generated such public controversy.
And the three people with the power to make the difference - the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and the Minister for Finance - are personally responsible. There is no honour in their decision to persist with their choice of Mr O'Flaherty as the Irish representative on the board of directors of this European institution. They will come to appreciate, as some of their Cabinet colleagues have done already, that the nomination is not the forgettable matter desired by Ms Harney; it has left a sour taste on the political palate of the State.
The whole unseemly saga has exposed the remoteness of the Government's political judgment at a crucial time in its fortunes. It has engendered a public antipathy towards Haughey-style stroke politics in the modern era which is directly traceable to the leadership of Mr Bertie Ahern. At the apparent request of the Minister for Finance, Mr Charlie McCreevy, he agreed to the decision to nominate the former Supreme Court judge whom he was willing to impeach for unbecoming conduct the year before. It has done untold damage to Ms Mary Harney and the Progressive Democrats from the moment that she, with the backing of some senior colleagues, acquiesced in the decision. All of the hand-wringing admissions from Fianna Fail and PD members that a "mistake" had been made have come to nothing.
There is a general acceptance that the tensions raised by the nomination of Mr O'Flaherty have affected the lifespan of the Coalition. The affair has also had repercussions for the judiciary. In the first inquiry of its kind, the then Chief Justice, Mr Liam Hamilton, came to the conclusion that Mr O'Flaherty's intervention in the Philip Sheedy case last year had damaged the administration of justice. Mr O'Flaherty recently admitted that he had resigned because he had lost the confidence of his judicial colleagues. The Government which accepted the Hamilton inquiry's findings now sees fit to ignore them.
Despite the dismissal of the appeal by Limerick lecturer, Mr Denis Riordan, the Opposition parties have repeated their call on the Government to withdraw the nomination. The Fine Gael spokesman, Mr Alan Shatter, suggested that the Taoiseach should demonstrate leadership by admitting an error and reversing the decision. His party, he said, would pursue a Bill obliging all former judges to seek the approval of the appropriate Oireachtas Committee before future appointment to other positions, inside or outside the State. The Labour spokesman, Mr Brendan Howlin, said that the fact remained that the nomination of Mr O'Flaherty was "an act of blatant political cronyism that has outraged public opinion". If the Government was not to inflict further damage on the political and judicial systems, it should go back to the drawing board, he said. The Taoiseach, Tanaiste, and the Minister for Finance are unlikely to heed these calls after taking "the hit" so far.
The saddest thing of all in this shabby affair is the absence of contrition on the part of those responsible.
