A free marketeer

As the dual mandate is phased out, Simon Coveney will soon have to choose between his seat in Brussels and his seat in Leinster House. He talks to Mary Regan

During a meeting of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee in Brussels, Simon Coveney gets a phone call telling him that a road in Carrigaline needs resurfacing. While he is occupied drawing up the European Parliament's report on Human Rights, another constituent rings him saying "well now that you're out in Brussels you can definitely sort out that planning permission for me".

As one of the five TDs who is also an MEP, Coveney has to look after the local issues as well as the global ones. "Other MEPs can't fathom it," he says "but the Irish electorate really expect the people they vote for to be tangible politicians, always at the end of the phone."

He admits that juggling the two roles is difficult: "I'm not involved in policy making at home as much as I'd like to be, because I am extremely busy in the European Parliament. I only really get to spend one day a week in the Dáil and am very busy when I go down to my constituency office in Cork." While the constant travel and double work load may be difficult, Coveney picks up salaries from both the Dáil and the European Parliament, meaning he earns almost double the wage of an average TD.

As the dual mandate is being phased out, at the next general election Coveney will have to choose between his seat in Brussels and his seat in Leinster House. Speaking immediately after the European elections last year, Coveney said he would complete a full term as an MEP and was unlikely to contest the next general election. He even hinted that he might resign his Cork South Central Seat before then. "I may not hold it right to the next general election," he told reporters.

But since then things have changed. "I would find it difficult to give a definitive answer on whether or not I will stand in the next election," he says. Fine Gael now has as many seats as Fianna Fáil in local councils, and has more seats than them in Europe. "Now there is a real chance that Fine Gael will go into Government," says Coveney, "and any policy-oriented politician would like to have the opportunity to direct policy as a minister in government."

His party will also need two seats in constituencies like Cork South Central if it is serious about getting into government. Coveney and Deirdre Clune would be the two most likely candidates to win these seats. "In electoral terms, it possibly would be a loss to Fine Gael if I do not stand," he says "but there are other strong Fine Gael candidates there and the party could gain two seats without me."

As well as being on the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the European Parliament, Coveney is also a member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, which means he is involved in a lot of work with Commissioner Charlie McCreevy and his office. He has supported a lot of McCreevy's policies. "Charlie is a free-marketeer, like myself, and I strongly support most of his issues. I don't see him as a Fianna Fáil target, but as our country's commissioner. In the same way, I don't really see my role in Europe as trying to catch out Fianna Fáil MEPs. It's different from the Dáil in that sense."

Coveney was first elected to the Dáil in 1998 in a bye-election caused by the sudden death of his father, the late Hugh Coveney, who was a former Minister for Defence and the Marine. Between the ages of 26 and 31, Simon contested, and was successful in four elections: a by-election, a general election, a local election and a European election. " I don't think there is any other type of election left for me to stand in," he says.