The new Fianna Fáil MEP for Connacht-Ulster, Mr Seán Ó Neachtain, faces a busy schedule but money is not the key motivation, he tells Lorna Siggins
The new MEP for Connacht-Ulster, Mr Seán Ó Neachtain, didn't need a scout to show him around when he flew out to register as a parliamentarian in Strasbourg last week.
He has been travelling from the west of Ireland to Brussels over the last eight years, as a member of the EU's Committee of the Regions.
"Thrilled" and "looking forward to it" was how he summed up his mood, as he faced into an onerous two year schedule of travel, meetings, parliamentary sessions and banter about his large expense allowance.
His large European constituency extends from Inishowen in north Donegal to Portumna, south of Galway, and across to Cavan and Monaghan.
"I haven't a clue," was his response to The Irish Times when asked about how the appointment would affect his bank balance.
"It is the same as a Dáil salary, and there is a secretarial allowance, but after that I honestly haven't gone into the details," he said.
The European Parliament press office confirmed yesterday that the salary is the same as that of a TD, at €69,050 and 90 cents per annum.
Key allowances include a monthly payment of €12,052 to cover the cost of staff in constituency and Brussels offices, and the cost of any research work, while there is also a general administrative allowance of €3,546 a month. There are also generous travel and overnight allowances.
Money was not his motivation, he says, when he stood as a candidate for the "substitute" jersey in Castlebar, Co Mayo, in 1999 and defeated former Fianna Fáil justice minister, Mr SeáDoherty.
"Noel Treacy, who was selected as candidate then, ran for us and was subsequently defeated.
"He would have had first call by rights when Pat the Cope Gallagher decided to return to national politics. In the event, he didn't want to go, and so I was delighted to accept," Mr Ó Neachtain said.
A retired schoolteacher and father of six in Spiddal, Co Galway, Mr Ó Neachtain has a long association with politics in the west.
He is a former chairman of Údarás na Gaeltachta, a former vice-chairman of Galway County Council, and has been a member of the Western Regional Authority, the Border, Midlands and Western Regional Assembly and the Co Galway Vocational Education Committee.
He narrowly defeated Margaret Cox at a general election selection convention in Galway West in 1997, but the party executive decided to add her to the ticket - causing much resentment among his supporters.
Under the 2001 Local Government Act, he has relinquished his local authority positions, apart from his seat on Údarás na Gaeltachta.
"Given that the Galway, Mayo and Donegal Gaeltachts are in my constituency now, that links in very well," he says.
Industrial development will be one of his priorities, and he has taken over Mr Pat the Cope Gallagher's membership of the European Parliament committees on industry and fisheries.
"I am particularly interested in the fisheries issue, and will be keeping a close eye over the next months on the current review of the Common Fisheries Policy," he says. He is also interested in education, given his professional background, and was a vice-chairman of the commission on education and culture during his time on the EU Committee of the Regions.
His first week on duty was spent between Strasbourg and Brussels, as he attended his last regions committee meeting.
He made his maiden speech in the parliament chamber on Tuesday "as Gaeilge" and the first debate he attended was on reproductive rights on Wednesday - the vote on which proved controversial when there were warnings that support for its line on legalised abortion throughout the EU could prove to be an obstacle to ratification of the Nice Treaty.
The report presented by a Belgian MEP, Ms Anne van Lancker, was endorsed by the Strasbourg parliament but has no legal status within the EU.
Mr Ó Neachtain is fully supportive of the Nice Treaty, and intends to urge a strong Yes vote in the next referendum.
"I am very pro-Europe and always have been, not just as a politician but as a history teacher. We must never again have two consecutive world wars, and so much has now been achieved towards unity in Europe, and towards building a community of half a billion people."
Mr Ó Neachtain said he would stand in the European Parliament elections for Connacht-Ulster in 2004, having been nominated through the list system this time around.