FORMER TÁNAISTE SIMON Coveney has been appointed as a consultant to EY Ireland’s geopolitical strategy unit.

EY Ireland is a professional services organisation that operates globally. It provides tax, audit, transaction, assurance, and advisory services.

In its announcing of Coveney’s joining as a consultant, the company said that it was “very pleased” to have him on board “at a time when elevated levels of political risk are creating both challenges and opportunities for our clients”.

“These are complex times,” the organisation’s managing partner Frank O’Keefe said. “We know that Simon’s long and distinguished career in public service will allow us to bring even deeper insights and value to our clients.”

Coveney said that he was “delighted” to join the geopolitical strategy unit as a consultant, saying, “I am looking forward to working with EY clients to help them effectively identify, assess and manage political risk in a world that is changing at incredible pace.”

The 52-year-old first joined the Dáil as a TD in 1998. In 2004, he served as an MEP, and from there took on a range of ministerial positions, including the enterprise, housing, and agriculture portfolios. 

From 2017 to 2024, he was deputy leader of Fine Gael, the position now held by Helen McEntee, and was Tánaiste under Leo Varadkar from 2017 to 2020. In 2024, he announced that he would not be running in the year’s general election.

His former leader Varadkar took a similar path, leaving politics and subsequently taking up a new role in a US-based public relations group, Penta Group, as a member of its Global Advisory Board. 

Varadkar was due to start his new role on 10 April.