SIMON COVENEY HAS long been a cornerstone of the Fine Gael party, with the Cork TD likely to be remembered most for his stint during the Brexit wars and his time in the housing brief.
The father-of-three today confirmed the much-speculated upon news that he will not be seeking re-election and will step aside from politics.
Born in Cork on 16 June 1972, the Coveneys were one of the well-known “Merchant Prince” families, a term used for an affluent group of Corkonians.
His father, Hugh, served as a Fine Gael TD for Cork South-Central for six years in the 1980s, and then for a further four in the 90s before his death in 1998.
Coveney was first elected to the Dáil in the by-election that followed his father’s death. he became one of Fine Gael’s youngest TDs and has held many ministries over the years.
He was Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Defence , Minister for Agriculture and also Minister for Housing.
Coveney also served as Minister for Enterprise, until Simon Harris became Taoiseach and he was shuffled out of Cabinet.
He also served as Fine Gael’s deputy leader and was Tánaiste from November 2017 to June 2020.
So what will the Cork man be remembered most for? Well, there are a view standout moments.
Coveney will be remembered for the delicate line he had to walk as foreign affairs minister in handling the Irish-British relationship during the UK’s tumultuous exit from the European Union.
After the Brexit vote, it soon became apparent that the issue of Northern Ireland and its border had not been given any meaningful consideration.
Coveney was seen as a political heavyweight throughout the debacle, who used his voice at European level to ensure that Ireland was supported and not left as an afterthought. He garnered support for Ireland from both the EU and US, while also managing the navigate a relationship with Boris Johnson.
Taoiseach Simon Harris said Coveney has made a real impact in Ireland, stating that for him, Coveney will be remembered for the work he did to protect Ireland and our national interest.
In 2021, Coveney was dragged into a controversy surrounding former minister Katherine Zappone, which resulted in a confidence motion being tabled against him.
Sinn Féin’s motion was in response to Coveney’s handling of his nomination of Zappone to a UN role and his response to the controversy that followed.
The former children’s minister and independent TD was to be appointed to a new role as Ireland’s Special Envoy to the UN for freedom of opinion and expression.
Zappone withdrew from the selection after it emerged that the Taoiseach at the time, Micheál Martin, had not been made aware of the nomination before it was brought to Cabinet on 28 July.
Coveney apologised for the manner of the appointment process and spoke before the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee after it came to light that he had deleted text messages relating to Zappone’s appointment.
Coveney has said the position was not a “makey up job to do a favour for Katherine Zappone” but various members of the opposition accused the government of “cronyism” in nominating the former minister for the role.
While Brexit will be high on the achievements list for Coveney, it is his time in the housing brief that will be seen as one of his biggest failures.
In 2017, focus was growing on the rising homelessness figures and the housing crisis began hitting the headlines.
While health was always seen politically as the poisoned chalice, housing was quickly taking its place when Coveney was moved into the role.
Coveney made the promise that hotels would no longer be used to house homeless families by July 2017.
He reaffirmed that commitment in March 2017, but by December of that year the government had failed to meet that commitment, with the figures showing a rise in the number of people staying in hotels and B&Bs.
Coveney told TheJournal.ie at the time that the July target would be something he would pin his reputation on, saying he knew it would be a “potential stick to beat me with” if it failed.
Having failed to deliver on his promise, he told The Journal at the end of 2017 that he did not regret making the promise, stating that “politics is always about setting targets and then going after them”.
“The politics of hiding behind bushes because you might get criticised is not something that interests me. We set targets to get children out of hotels… to much more suitable accommodation so that we could then, over time, get them into homes.
“If we hadn’t done that we wouldn’t have actually spent the guts of €40 million on family hubs in an effort to meet that target. We wouldn’t have seen a reduction in the number of children in hotels today and there has been a significant reduction – but they shouldn’t be there and I am very strong on that.”
Since 2014, there has been an increase of 579% in the number of adults in emergency accommodation for more than six months, a Focus Ireland report stated this month.
In 2010, former Taoiseach Brian Cowen was accused of being either drunk or hangover during a set-piece interview with Cathal MacCoille on RTÉ’s flagship morning radio programme.
Sounding hoarse, the Laois-Offaly TD briefly confused the Croke Park Agreement with the Good Friday Agreement among other slips.
His performance was roundly criticised by opposition politicians but it was Coveney’s tweet that upped the political ante and sparked much of the debate in the hours that followed the interview.
The Cork TD, while serving as foreign affairs minister, always had strong views on the illegal settlements in Gaza.
In 2018, in “frank and forthright” discussion with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem in 2018, Coveney pushed for the need for a two-state solution.
Writing for The Journal that year, he said:
“The tensions, frustration and danger I saw then are at boiling point now. It is time for the international community to act to save Gaza, to give young people hope for the future, before despair and extremism fill that void.”
Coveney is seen within the party as being one of the driving forces behind the steps that paved the way for Ireland’s recognition of the State of Palestine.
However, while those within his party champion his work in the Middle East, opposition members have criticised Coveney’s staunch position during government negotiations that the Occupied Territories Bill be left out out of the programme for government.
Coveney is a popular member of Fine Gael and is well-liked in his constituency of Cork South Central. So, it was no surprise when he threw his hat in the ring for the Fine Gael leadership in 2017.
Coveney contested the election stating that he wanted to unify the country and make it more fair. Coveney, an experienced politician who has been in Dáil Éireann for nearly two decades, was outfoxed by Leo Varadkar, who was out of the traps a lot sooner and had sewn up the support of the parliamentary party before a contest could even be announced.
While the tide seemed to be against Coveney, he continued on, and in the vote, garnered more support from the grassroots in the party, something that is still mentioned within the party.
Ultimately, he lost out to Varadkar, but was appointed deputy leader. Had the it gone the other way, who knows where Coveney’s path might have led him. Coveney has ruled out a big job in Europe and also rumours that he is line for a job at Google. All eyes will be on where the Cork merchant prince will end up next.
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