'I know people are deeply frustrated': Simon Coveney believes 'we're on the cusp' of progression on events centre

Former Tánaiste Simon Coveney has said that the decision to leave politics had been something he had been considering for “a couple of years”, and had crystalised once he decided not to contest the Fine Gael leadership earlier this year.

Speaking to The Echo, the Cork South Central TD said his decision to stand down would not come as “a huge surprise” to those who know him well.

“When I decided not to contest the leadership of Fine Gael a few months ago, and I’d made that decision, by the way, a couple of years ago, in truth, but once that became clear, for me, I needed to think seriously about whether I was going to run again,” he said. 

“Given the quality of the councillors and people who would like to replace me in Cork South Central, I feel comfortable now that this is the right time to facilitate that transition.” 

First elected to Dáil Éireann at the age of 25 in 1998 in the by-election caused by the death of his father Hugh, Mr Coveney said he wished to thank the people of his constituency for “the extraordinary faith they have put in me for over quarter of a century”, calling it “the privilege of my life”.

“A by-election, five general elections, a European election, a local election, and every time they have trusted me.

“I do think now is the right time for me to facilitate renewal in the party and there’s a lot of talent and ambition in the party that I think allows me to move outside of politics in the confidence that there are some very good people who can take over,” he said.

“If you look at what’s happening in Fine Gael today, a new leader, a new Taoiseach, we’ve just a good local and European elections, and I think we’re in good shape going into a general election.” 

Events Centre

He said that having spoken to the Taoiseach about the long-stalled Cork Events Centre, he was hopeful the Government would be able to finalise a decision on funding of the centre “before the end of this month”.

He added that he was personally very associated with the events centre, and it was a project had been working on for a decade.

“It’s a project that would have died long ago if it hadn’t been for people like [outgoing Cork City Council chief executive] Ann Doherty sticking with it, people like me continuing to support it, despite getting a lot of grief and criticism around it.

“We haven’t allowed it die and now, I think, we’re on the cusp, eventually, of finalising the funding decisions that are needed to make it happen,” he said.

“I know people are deeply frustrated about it, and they’ve become cynical about it, but for me the only thing now that matters is to make it happen.” 

He said he did not regret the now infamous photograph of the sod-turning at the site, taken days before the 2016 general election.

“The photograph was taken at the time in good faith and there are a whole series of reasons, which I can’t go into, for why this project stalled on multiple occasions, in terms of costs, in terms of Covid, in terms of difficult negotiation with the developers, all of which is in the past now.” 

'New opportunities'

He said that he was looking forward to “ new opportunities and new horizons” outside of politics.

“I’ve given my entire working life to politics, since I was 25 years of age, I’ve loved every day of it, it’s been exciting, it’s been challenging, it’s been a privilege,” Mr Coveney said.

“I’ve worked as hard as I can to make people proud and to try and serve people as best I can, particularly in my own constituency, but there’s always a right time to move on, and I think for me, that time is now.”