Taoiseach Enda Kenny has told the Dáil that the Government has not decided on support for any particular candidate for the position of managing director of the IMF.
He was responding to independent Deputy Shane Ross who asked the Taoiseach if the government would consider opposing the nomination of French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde in light of the French government's position on Ireland's corporate tax rate and the interest rate on the country's EU/IMF loan.
The Taoiseach said that if Lagarde was appointed she would not be articulating the policies of the French government. But he also said that Ms Legarde's views on corporation tax and the interest rate would be discussed in the event of her becoming a nominee for the position of head of the IMF.
Meanwhile, judges may decide on June 10 whether or not to investigate Lagarde, French finance minister and favourite to become the next head of the IMF, for abuse of power, legal sources said today.
This coincides with the closing date for the announcement of candidacies for the top international post. Lagarde has yet to say whether she will be in the running.
Judicial officials said this was the date on which which the complaints commission of the Court of Justice of the Republic, which is charged with deciding whether serving ministers can be probed, will next meet. No decision on Lagarde's fate can be made before then.
The French finance minister has emerged as the frontrunner in the race to replace her countryman Dominique Strauss-Kahn as head of the International Monetary Fund, having won the support of European heavyweights France, Britain and Germany.
But her candidacy is dogged by allegations she exceeded her authority by cutting short a legal battle between French tycoon Bernard Tapie and a formerly state-owned bank and sending the parties into binding arbitration.
The arbitration panel decided to award Tapie, a supporter of Lagarde's boss President Nicolas Sarkozy, €385m in the case, linked to the bank's alleged mishandling of the entrepreneur's sale of the Adidas sportswear firm.
Prosecutors investigating complaints over Lagarde's role have asked the Court of Justice of the Republic to decided whether she can be formally investigated on charges of exceeding her authority.
The court could give one of three decisions: It could throw out the case, it could ask for more information or it could order an inquiry which in turn could see Lagarde charged with a criminal offence.
If convicted she could eventually face five years in prison. Few in France expect it to come to that but - after New York prosecutors charged Strauss-Kahn with the sexual assault and attempted rape of a hotel chamber maid - some IMF members might be wary of more scandal.
