Moving from Beaumount National School in Blackrock, Cork, to Minane Bridge National School was a huge change for me. I went from a city school with very large classes to a rural school where classes were tiny.

There were only eight of us in my class - and fourth, fifth and sixth classes all had the same teacher. I enjoyed the year I spent there, but I missed my friends in the city.

For second level, I went off to boarding school - Clongowes Wood College in Co Kildare. Boarding school worked very well for me. It was good for my independence and personal development and I particularly enjoyed the sport - rugby and swimming were my passions.

I'm afraid that in my Leaving Cert years I concentrated too much on sport and I had to repeat my exams at Bruce College, Cork. Although I had always wanted to go to university, I hadn't fully made up my mind on a career. However, I thought that arts would give me a good general degree and that it would be a useful area in which to start.

I enrolled in UCC to do history and economics. I found it quite interesting, but after a year decided to put it on hold. By that time the family had moved to a farm and I had been spending my free time in farmwork.

I decided I wanted to find out more about farming and the possibility of making a career of it. I spent a year at Gurteen Agricultural College, Co Tipperary, where we got practical experience in the mornings and spent the afternoons on academic subjects.

I enjoyed my time there and decided that, rather than go back into second-year arts at UCC, I would do a degree in agriculture. I wasn't interested in doing agriculture at UCC where the course was a dairy science one. Nor was I interested in the UCD course which I thought was very research oriented.

Instead, I went to England - to the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester - where I did a three-year science degree in agriculture and land management. I enjoyed it immensely. The college does have an upper class image - the Queen is its patron - but I didn't find it exclusive. Many of the students are from regular farming backgrounds and quite a number of Irish people go there.

Academically, the college has a good reputation. I wanted a degree that was based on farming but which also had marketing, business and economics components. The course I took fitted the bill.

For my six months' work placement I was attached to the Scottish Agricultural College, near Edinburgh, which is the equivalent of Teagasc. I worked with a number of farmers on crop husbandry and alternative land uses and again found it interesting.

When I returned home, I became a farm manager in Mallow, Co Cork. I then got involved in the Chernobyl Children's Project and was sailing a boat around the world to raise money for it, when I had to return home because my father's death.

I had known for a number of years that I wanted a career in politics - but I hadn't expected it quite so soon. I had to think very seriously about it. There were many factors to consider, but I was never put under any pressure by anyone.

I haven't regretted my decision and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in to the job. I believe I have a lot to offer. My background - going into agriculture from an essentially urban base, a rural-urban mix - is unusual and will be an advantage.

Simon Coveney, the recently elected Fine Gael TD for Cork South Central, was in conversation with Yvonne Healy