Mr Michael O'Kennedy, who spoke in favour of the appointment of Mr Ronan Keane as a judge of the High Court in Mr Jack Lynch's cabinet, has said that he was not contacted by Mr Charles Haughey before the cabinet meeting at which the appointment was discussed.
"Charlie Haughey had no contact whatsoever with me, or I with him, nor had we any discussion in any way related to the appointment of Judge Ronan Keane, as he now is, to the High Court," Mr O'Kennedy said.
The former Minister for Foreign Affairs was speaking on last night's Tonight With Vincent Browne programme on RTE Radio 1.
His statement was made in response to claims by Ms Terry Keane in last weekend's Sunday Times that Mr Haughey had "orchestrated" the appointment. Ms Keane said she had suggested to Mr Haughey that her husband should be appointed a judge of the High Court.
Ms Keane said in her article: "As it happened, a couple of vacancies in the High Court were coming up on the bench. I said to Charlie that I thought our Ronan should become a judge . . . Charlie then said `Wouldn't it be quite interesting if I was to test how much power I have? Can I make your husband a judge?'
"So he was thrilled when the issue of who would be made a judge came up in cabinet. Michael O'Kennedy . . . and Brian Lenihan both suggested Ronan. Charlie never said a word. He wanted to see how much power he would have around the cabinet table if he wanted to take over . . . I didn't know it was Charlie, in fact, who had orchestrated the whole thing," she said.
Mr O'Kennedy said last night that he had known Mr Keane as a colleague at the Bar for 13 years.
He continued: "He was highly respected. He was chairman of the Bar Council. He had a considerable reputation, particularly as a specialist in local government and planning law . . . so when his name was mentioned as an applicant by the Minister for Justice . . . I was very happy to convey . . . that in my view his appointment would be very highly regarded at the Bar.
"I would be very concerned if the people of Ireland thought that such an important constitutional function of government could be manipulated or was manipulated," he added.
