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NEWS RELEASE Monday, 28 August 2000 WORKERS' PARTY WELCOME O'FLAHERTY CLIMBDOWN The Workers' Party of Ireland has welcomed the decision of former Irish Supreme Court Justice, Mr. Hugh O'Flaherty to withdraw his name from nomination to the Board of Directors of the European Investment Bank. Mr. O'Flaherty had been forced to resign from the Supreme Court in 1999 after it was revealed that he had made representations to another judge in a lower court to have a sentence reduced for a man whose drunken driving had led to the death of a young mother and serious injuries to her children. The revelation caused outrage in Ireland and that outrage became even greater when, just a year later, the Irish government announced it was nominating the former Judge to the Board of Directors of the European Investment Bank with a salary of IR£147,000 (over 200,000 Euros) per annum. Former judge O'Flaherty has had a long association with the larger Irish coalition government party Fianna Fail. It has emerged within the past few days that very few of the other EU Finance Ministers were willing to back Mr. O'Flaherty's appointment, despite the insistence of the Irish government. Workers' Party of Ireland spokesman Shay Kelly described Mr. O'Flaherty's decision as "wise, if belated" and he said that the judge had finally taken the decision which the Irish government and in particular the Justice Minister, Charlie McCreevy had failed to face up to. Mr. Kelly said that the O'Flaherty affair had severely damaged the credibility of the Irish coalition government and of Minister McCreevy in particular. "While it has taken a very long time, at least Mr. O'Flaherty finally had the commonsense to fall on his own sword. I don't, however, hold out much hope that Minister McCreevy will do likewise". However the Workers' Party spokesman reserved his most scathing criticism for the Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Mary Harney who tonight praised Mr. O'Flaherty's decision. "Mary Harney has tonight come out of the ivory tower in which she has been ensconced for weeks as if she were a mere onlooker. Given that she was the Progressive Democrat party Minister who gave Mr. McCreevy crucial backing for the O'Flaherty nomination which precipitated this entire fiasco, maybe Minister Harney too could consider a ritual sword falling tonight" said Shay Kelly. The Workers' Party spokesman concluded by calling for the process of nomination to government and European Union positions to be made totally transparent and fair. "This affair must mean an end to nepotism and cronyism and should serve as a salutary lesson to those who engage in such practices" said Mr. Kelly. John Jefferies, Press Officer, Tel: (01) 874 0716 (office) / (086) 300 4573 (mobile) Shay Kelly, Tel: (086) 857 3556 (mobile) NOTE: The Irish coalition government consists of the Fianna Fail party (former associate of the French Gaullists) of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and the smaller, four deputy Progressive Democrat party of Mary Harney (Thatcherite - Right Wing) Gå tilbake til / go back to: - Oversikten over internasjonalt nytt / The index of international news. - Forsiden på NKPs nettsted / The front page of our site.