Simon Coveney has dismissed any suggestion he was treated unfairly by new Fine Gael leader Simon Harris, insisting there is no exciting explanation behind his exit from frontline politics.
The outgoing Minister for Enterprise also said he intends to take his time to decide whether to run again in the next general election.
Mr Coveney announced on Tuesday that he would not be putting his name forward as a potential Cabinet minister when Mr Harris formally becomes taoiseach.
He said his decision was motivated by a desire to facilitate renewal within Fine Gael ahead of the election.
He also rejected the contention that his brother’s involvement in the ongoing furore within RTÉ had influenced his considerations on his own political future.
Former RTÉ director of strategy Rory Coveney, who quit the broadcaster last year, was a key figure behind the ill-fated Toy Show The Musical project, which accrued losses in excess of €2 million.
The Cork South Central TD, speaking to reporters in Galway at his party’s ard fheis on Saturday, insisted he had not received any job offers outside of politics.
Appearing alongside Fine Gael’s European election candidates, Mr Coveney said while he spoke to Mr Harris on several occasions about a potential Cabinet position, he was not sure whether the new party leader had intended to offer him a post in his refreshed government line-up.
“I think there’s lots of theories out there as to why I decided not to put myself forward for potential selection for the Cabinet next week,” he said.
“I know it’s maybe not an exciting explanation, but it’s the truth: when Leo Varadkar made the decision to step down that started a process of change and renewal of the party.
“My initial reaction to that was I needed to be involved in effectively steadying the ship and helping to put in place a transition period for the party that could allow us to put a new leadership in place quickly and efficiently.
“But, over Easter, I really spent quite a lot of time thinking about what my role is now in that renewal process.
“And any organisation, whether it’s sporting, whether it’s business, or whether it’s political, needs to think about succession, needs to think about renewal, particularly this party actually needs to think about that, because we will face an electorate in a few months’ time and we’ll be asking them to put us into government for a fourth term in a row.
“And, in order to do that, I think this party needs to look and feel fresh, and I thought about that, I thought about my own, sort of, extraordinary opportunities over the last 13 years as a Cabinet minister, and I decided that I’d make life a little bit easier for Simon.
“I don’t know whether I would have been in the Cabinet next week. I did speak to Simon about it a number of times. You’d have to ask him what his view is on that.
“But, honestly, my decision wasn’t about being shafted or anything like that. It was a kind of a deeper one for me.
“I’ve been 26 years in politics. It’s been an extraordinary privilege. I’ve basically done nothing else in life from a working perspective.
“I’ve been 13 years, the longest-serving – along with Leo – Fine Gael minister ever and I felt it was time to give somebody else an opportunity and we have, as you’ve seen, lots of ambition to do that. It’s really no more complicated than that.”
On his brother’s involvement in the RTÉ controversy, Mr Coveney said he had deliberately chosen not to speak in detail because it was subject to various Oireachtas investigations.
He said the issue had not influenced his own career decisions, only adding that life in the public eye could be “tough”.
On the question of him running in the next general election, Mr Coveney declined to confirm his intentions.
“I may or may not run in the next election, I haven’t decided yet,” he said.
“I’m not going to be rushed into it. I’ll take a bit of time to think about it. And I think we do have time now.
“Simon’s made it very clear that this is a government that’s going to run a little bit longer maybe than some people might have predicted a couple of weeks ago.
“And so I think a lot of [candidate selection] conventions won’t happen until probably September/October time, so I think there is a bit of time there.”
