IRELAND’S EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER Máire Geoghegan-Quinn was given the nod to take up the prize position after the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, urged Brian Cowen to nominate a woman.

That is the suggestion of a leaked US embassy cable obtained by WikiLeaks and supplied to the Irish Independent, which is this week publishing details of some 1,903 cables tagged as being relevant to Ireland.

The cable – written by the US’s second-in-command Robert Faucher after a meeting with John Callinan, the second-highest civil servant within the Department of the Taoiseach – explains that Cowen had been considering nominating either Pat Cox or John Bruton to the Commission.

Either candidate would have been considered worthy of the job, with Cox being a former MEP and President of the European Parliament, while former taoiseach John Bruton had just finished his term as EU ambassador to Washington.

But Cowen was ultimately convinced to offer the post to former minister Geoghegan-Quinn because she was a Fianna Fáil member and had served on the European Court of Auditors – and because she was female, the cable reports.

10 of the 27 current European Commissioners are female.

Read more on the WikiLeaks cables in the print edition of today’s Irish Independent >

Our previous coverage of Irish cables:

• USA had concerns over Dublin-based Muslim think tank
• CIA linked to Irishman’s death in Bolivia
• Shell hope for “20 or more Corribs” in Irish waters
• Ahern suspected US carried prisoners through Shannon
• Cowen accused Adams of “double game” on IRA
• US embassy thought Ireland was losing grip on banks
• Sinn Féin leaders knew of Northern Bank heist plan
• Vatican “offended” at being asked to assist Murphy Inquiry
• Government targeted US-Shannon flights to dampen election criticism