In many ways this is a period of transition for the Irish State, with the bones of a settlement on the North, an incipient new role as donor rather than beneficiary in the European Union, and a ringside seat at the international arena by virtue of our position on the UN Security Council. Unprecedented prosperity at home is being reflected in enhanced prestige abroad, and foreign policy has never been more important or vital at any time since the very different era of the second World War.

Brian Cowen is the Minister responsible for piloting the ship of state through the choppy and occasionally stormy waters of the international scene. His two-fisted performances in the Dail and on television have brought him fame and a wary respect. He has even been mentioned among the possible contenders for the job of Taoiseach should it become vacant, but little is known about his overall political outlook. Has the Offaly battler got "the vision thing"? For example, what does he see as the key priorities for Irish foreign policy?

We are sitting in his Leinster House office - less grand but more accessible than his den at Iveagh House - and the Minister is nursing a wicked 'flu contracted on a visit to Australia. "The basic aim is to protect and pursue our own national interests," he replies. On the economic level, it means using the European Union as a means of promoting Ireland as a location for investment. "We are very much in favour of free trade." He notes proudly that Ireland is ranked as "about the third most open economy in the world."

Then there is what political leaders used to call the other Ireland across the seas. "In cultural terms there is a constitutional recognition in the new Article 2 [the wording negotiated in the Good Friday agreement which speaks of "the special affinity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad"] of the importance of the Irish diaspora. It's only in relatively recent times that we have started to use that resource to the benefit of the country. Thankfully, many who now live abroad are people of influence." On his visit to Australia, for example. "It was very clear to me, despite the tyranny of distance, that it's a very Irish place indeed; 40 per cent of the people claim Irish ancestry."

As for political issues: "Clearly we have given pre-eminence to the United Nations as the most important organisation in terms of international relations promoting peace and prosperity, and we have used that very well, and now of course we are members of the Security Council, so we have an opportunity in the next two years to address some of the issues - many of which will remain beyond our membership and be there for some considerable time. We will use our position there not for the purpose of grand-standing, but for the purpose of actually engaging constructively with other Security Council members to try and improve the situation [in respect of] many intractable and difficult problems that have bedevilled international relations for a very long time."

An immediate political challenge facing the Minister is the forthcoming referendum on the Treaty of Nice which is widely expected, foot-and-mouth problems permitting, at the end of May ("early summer" says Cowen) and a White Paper on the Treaty is due to be launched on Wednesday with a Bill for the referendum to be introduced in the Dail the following week.

He doesn't share the widespread view that the recent contretemps between the Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, and the European Commission will make the passage of the treaty more difficult. "One has to keep all these things in perspective," says Cowen. "It is beyond argument for any sensible person that European Union membership is good for Ireland. There is no serious political position that can contradict that." If the EU was good for Ireland then an enlarged Union had to be good too.

Nice was about preparing the operational arrangements for enlargement: "I honestly believe that Irish people will afford the very same opportunity to people in these emerging democracies as was given to ourselves 28 years ago [when Irish membership commenced]." He is confident the people will "positively vote for Ireland's continued membership of the Union" and that they have a "generosity towards the people of the applicant countries who have come out under the shadow of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, who are being led by progressive, democratic forces and who want the opportunity of taking their place in Europe again in a way that has been denied them since the end of the second World War."

HE IS dismissive of claims by opponents of the treaty that it is another steppingstone towards the construction of a European military super-state using the new Rapid Reaction Force. "That is a contention that has been made by those who opposed the European model since 1972 in one shape or another." He refuses to believe that "the basic approach of Irish people is isolationist or inward-looking." The EU had ushered in an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity and it was now developing a capacity to help in maintaining that stability and security. It was not seeking to replace the role of NATO, which was a separate organisation that included some of the European partners and which Ireland was not planning to join.

But hadn't the spat with Charlie McCreevy created difficulty with Ireland's EU partners? There was also the suggestion by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, that Ireland was spiritually closer to Boston than Berlin. "There is always the temptation to try and synopsise what is a very developed policy position and reduce it to a colourful phrase or a memorable soundbite," Cowen replies. Boston versus Berlin? "We are equally comfortable in both is the answer, basically. This country does its business in the EU. Our political destiny is confirmed in the EU. We also have clearly a very important economic and political relationship with the United States. They are not a contradiction in terms."

I point out that some observers have suggested Iveagh House should be co-ordinating Government policy on Europe to ensure that everyone is singing from the same hymn-sheet: "The Department obviously has a co-ordinating role. We have a cabinet subcommittee that meets regularly in relation to European Union matters: the Taoiseach, myself, the Tanaiste, Minister for Finance, and others according to what other issues are on the agenda, as well as officials. One of the things we will be doing, for example, to improve the level of co-ordination will be that our Permanent Representative [EU Ambassador] in Brussels would be in attendance at these meetings from now on."

But can he really go wagging his finger at the Minister for Finance or the Tanaiste? "At the end of the day, whether it is myself or the Minister for Finance in Ecofin [European council of economic and finance ministers] or the Tanaiste in her [European] council or whatever the various sectoral councils, it is Irish Government policy that is being enunciated. And I have had no problems with Irish Government policy on any of the issues."

Cowen has of course been heavily involved in the attempts to "bed down" the Belfast Agreement and implement its provisions in full. "The outcome at [the recent talks in] Hillsborough was positive. I think there was a recognition that the pending UK elections are a complicating factor in terms of getting comprehensive agreement on all the outstanding issues." He gives a qualified welcome to the renewed IRA contact with Gen de Chastelain's decommissioning body: "There is a need for that to be going somewhere, beyond contact we need to see progress." Satisfactory progress on weapons would open up the prospect of "comprehensively dealing with all the outstanding issues". There was no question but that the new institutions were working very well as, for example, the performance of the North's Agriculture Minister, Brid Rodgers, on the foot-and-mouth situation proved. "At the end of the day the blueprint for political progress is the Good Friday agreement and a return to some sort of majoritarian rule simply is not going to happen."

Asked if, without prejudice to the current Northern Secretary, the departure of Peter Mandelson had damaged the peace process, Cowen replies: "Any change of personnel at a critical time clearly can have a destabilising effect but at the end of the day whether it's Brian Cowen, Peter Mandelson or John Reid or someone else it is the substance of the policy that counts." He speaks with more regret of the departure of Mrs Mary Robinson from the high-profile post of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights this autumn, although respecting her decision not to seek a second four-year term: "She has brought the human rights agenda very far up the UN general agenda."

LAST Wednesday, the Minister had a meeting with the Palestinian negotiator and Minister for International Planning and Development, Dr Nabil Shaath. The Daily Telegraph thundered in a recent editorial that Ireland was "one of the most anti-Israeli democracies". Although amused at the description, Cowen rejects it: "Ireland fully subscribes to the position that the Palestinians have a right to their own homeland and the state of Israel is entitled to live in peace and security." The Middle East peace process was about trying to make a reality of these two principles: "It is true that successive governments have been very supportive of the Palestinian cause for all the right reasons, in my opinion, which is not an anti-Israeli position, it is a pro-Palestinian position. We are not saying that the rights of the Palestinians must be vindicated in a way that compromises the right of Israel to exist."

One of the key issues facing Ireland and other members of the UN Security Council is Iraqi sanctions. Cowen recently discussed the issue with the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and other political leaders. "There's a growing recognition that the sanctions policy has to be geared towards the regime and not at the expense of the Iraqi people."

Since Ireland began its two-year term of membership on the Security Council in January he has been in "continual contact" with the Irish mission at the UN in New York. "It is a very interesting and busy time." Ireland takes over the presidency of the Council for a month in October. "People in Ireland should know this: that Ireland enjoys a tremendous reputation, one we should be proud of. Too seldom do we say these things. We are looked to as people who will give a fair shake, who will work professionally on behalf of the UN and as a country that doesn't have ties with military alliances."

There had been some apparent disappointment among the wider UN membership that, once elected to the Security Council, certain countries forgot about their electorate: "It won't be the case that when Ireland leaves the Security Council all the world's problems will be solved but I believe it will be the case that people will look upon our record and our membership as being one of a principled contribution which is also pragmatic in its approach."

Normally talkative and forthcoming, there is only one question that reduces Brian Cowen to words of one syllable, namely, his future political plans. "I intend to be the longest-serving Minister for Foreign Affairs since Eamon de Valera," he quips. But when I press him as to his possible interest in Dev's other job as Taoiseach, he clams up: "I can't answer that stuff."