Editorial - Whitaker for Commission

There are few who don't regard with some cynicism the defection of Michael O'Kennedy from his post as EEC Commissioner but his absence from Brussells will not be missed either by the Community or Ireland. It also offers the opportunity to appoint somebody to the job who has the capacity to make a genuine contribution to the EEC and to Irish interests.

Irish interests are currently seriously threatened by recent developments within the EEC on budgetary policy and the future of the Common Agricultural Policy. While EEC Commissioners are properly expected to serve the wider community interest, it is inevitable that each Commissioner will have regard to the interests of their own. countries and, in present circumstances, it is vital for Ireland that we have somebody at the Commission table who has the ability and weight to make an effective contribution.

The tradition is that EEC Commissioners come from political backgrounds - this tradition has meant, as far as Ireland is concerned, that less than commanding figures have been appointed. There are people in Irish politics who could be formidable personalities in the Commission ¸George Colley, Des O'Malley, Martin O'Donoghue, Garret FitzGerald, John Bruton, Alan Dukes, Jim Dooge etc. - but all of these are rendered ineligible because of domestic political considerations. It is inevitable therefore that if it is to be a political appointment again that it will be another second rater who will get the job. The national interest demands that this does not happen at this critical time.

There are some outstanding public servants who should come into contention. These include Eamon Gallagher, the current Director of Fisheries in the Commission, Sean Donnlon, the present Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Maurice Doyle, the Secretary of the Department of Finance, Michael Killeen, the Chairman of the IDA, and a number of others. Any of these would quickly come to grips with the job and make a forceful contribution to the Commission, while ensuring that Irish interests are properly protected. However, the fact that all of them have backkgrounds exclusively in the public service might make them ineligible. There is one former public servant however, who has had experience outside the public service in the past decade and who has a stature almost unparalleled in Irish society and who would also be a very impressive figure on the Commission, Kenneth Whitaker.

He has been the most outstanding public servant the state has known. He was an independent Governor of the Central Bank and was appointed to the Senate by two Taoiseachs, Jack Lynch and Garret FitzGerald. He has been rightly critical of successive Governments in the recent past - a . petty mean-minded Taoiseach may allow this to in' fluence him against nominating Whitaker. It would be a mistake and perhaps a very costly one. Vincent Browne