Listen to lead

Former Minister for Foreign Affairs and current TD Simon Coveney was the guest speaker at a conference on leadership for the five senior Jesuit schools from across Ireland. All the student representatives from the schools’ student councils met at the Tullamore Court Hotel, Tullamore, Co Offaly on Tuesday 22 October 2024.

The event was organised by the Jesuit Education Trust. Jonathan Tiernan, Director of the Trust interviewed Simon Coveney who spoke freely about his life, his time as a student in Clongowes College, and his understanding of ‘leadership’ – the key theme of the day.

The minister confessed he was not the best of students in his early years in Clongowes, and that was compounded by the fact that he did not make the rugby team. But he said he eventually began to realise the Jesuit education he was getting in the school was ‘a privilege’. And he told the students gathered there that the education they were receiving was a privilege also and they should not forget that or allow their school days to become a wasted opportunity.

Simon Coveney emphasised the importance of little things in life, small acts of service or encouragement, saying that they were the things that people remember. He said that he was actually thanked more for the small things that he’d forgotten about, that he had done for people, than the bigger things. “No act of kindness goes unnoticed,” he said.

Asked by Jonathan about the notable people he met during his time as Minister he said he met many well-known dignitaries but remarked that, for him, the challenging and important work was meeting with, and listening to refugees, migrants, and aid workers who were pleading to have their borders kept open so that much-needed aid could get into their countries.

Joe Munnelly, Communications Manager for Irish Jesuit International welcomed this input from Simon Covelry as it spoke directly to his workshop on the work of the Irish Jesuit missions in Africa and the Middle East.

Foroige, the youth development agency presented four workshops to the students on values, teamwork/problem-solving, climate action, and active listening.

Online feedback from the students was positive with students commenting in particular on learning about active listening, the importance of listening well, and the need for action as well as talking and listening.

Simon Coveney too went away happy after he was presented with a Clongowes jersey. “I never made the rugby team,” he commented, “But at last I’ve got the jersey!”