Representing Clare Killeen’s biggest honour

IT is every politician’s dream to serve at the Cabinet table, yet Minister for Defence Tony Killeen, who will not contest the forthcoming general election, doesn’t place this as his main political achievement.
Instead, the former national schoolteacher feels that being elected to serve as a deputy for the Clare constituency was the biggest honour he could receive.
That’s not to say that he fully appreciated the honour of having the opportunity to make key decisions in a number of departments before his service was ultimately rewarded with his appointment as Defence Minister last year, following the resignation of Willie O’Dea.
In an exclusive interview with The Clare Champion, Minister Killeen said he enjoyed working in the Cabinet despite the fact Ireland was in the grips of the most challenging period in the history of the State since the 1930s.
“One of the things that happened was decisions were taken in the best interests of the country and the impact on the Fianna Fáil party was deemed as secondary,” he said.
When a young Tony Killeen first faced the Clare electorate in 1992, he had no idea of how well he would be received at the ballot box.
Former Fine Gael Senator and political strategist, the late Michael Howard had previously stated it was practically impossible for a North Clare candidate to get elected because of the population distribution.
However, the Kilnaboy-based TD confounded this prediction on four occasions, despite not being geographically well placed near the main centres of population.
He recalled his election as chairman of Clare County Council in 1989 helped him to increase his political profile and to get to know a large number of people in the four corners of the county and helped him in the 1992 General Election. Minister Killeen insists the council chairmanship played a major role in his political breakthrough.
In September 2004, Deputy Killeen was first appointed as Minister of State with responsibility for Labour Affairs at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. His tenure coincided with controversy concerning employment issues at Irish Ferries and GAMA and the enhancement of employment rights legislation.
He also introduced the Safety Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, increased the minimum wage three times and had responsibility for the State’s dispute resolution machinery.
Following the 2007 General Election, Deputy Killeen was appointed Minister of State for Environment and Energy, working closely with the two new Green Party Cabinet ministers, Eamon Ryan and John Gormley.
His short spell in charge of the sector thwarted his ambitious plans to revamp and reform the Fire Service. However, he oversaw the roll-out of a very extensive Rural Water Programme and tried to build alliances between the third-level institutions and the renewable energy sector.
However, when Brian Cowen replaced Bertie Ahern as Taoiseach, he moved Deputy Killeen to the troubled Fisheries portfolio.
His introduction to the sector at a mass meeting in Athlone against a background of a threatened blockade of the ports was “a baptism of fire”. Despite cancer surgery and a six-month programme of chemotherapy, he established an excellent working relationship with the industry. He attributes this to a number of factors. “I was fortunate to have the total support of the senior Minister Brendan Smith and highly professional and committed senior department officials. I found the leadership of the fishing organisations to be tough and fair and their analysis and understanding of the issues made them a very positive force for the development of the sector. Together, we worked at building good relations with the scientific and enforcement agencies to the benefit of the entire marine sector,” he said.
The Interdepartmental Marine Co-ordination Group set up by the Taoiseach enabled Deputy Killeen as the political representative to mainstream maritime affairs across the whole of Government.
He also had responsibility for the forestry sector, where he oversaw the reversal of a downward trend in the level of planting about 1,000 hectares per annum drop until 2008. Activity in the sector is now increasing at a similar rate.
His brief stint as Minister for Defence began with the withdrawal of troops from the UN mission in Chad but his success in securing investment for two new naval vessels in challenging economic times and the negotiation of a return of Irish troops to the UN mission in the Lebanon are considered substantial achievements.
The relative success of the response to the recent severe weather events is attributed in part to the clarification to the roles and responsibilities of agencies under his chairmanship of the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning.