In Europe he is known as a free market ideologue. At home in Ireland he is the former minister for finance with a penchant for horse racing. But there is another, hitherto unrevealed, side to Charlie McCreevy - the one that wants to save the planet from global warming.
Yes, our man in Brussels has been stung, or at least gently bitten, by the green bug. He of the pin-striped suits matched with colourful ties has suggested to the European Commission that eurocrats should dispense with their ties for the summer.
Mr McCreevy reckons that EU officials - there are almost 12,000 male bureaucrats working in the European capital - will be able to withstand hotter offices and therefore less environment-damaging air-conditioning if they are not wearing ties.
"We might look at this as a potential contribution from the commission to reduce global warming," he suggests in an internal memo circulated last month.
Alas, he cannot get sole credit for the idea - only for pinching it from Japan while on a trip there and Brussel-ising it. "I noted in Japan that prime minister [ Shinzo] Abe has given the lead in telling his ministers and civil servants not wear ties in summer time. This allows office temperatures to be set higher and so cut down on energy use for cooling of offices," he says.
But so far, the great tie idea - tacked on as it was to the end of a general briefing note on financial services in Asia - looks like it may sink without a sartorial trace. There have been no responses so far, says a McCreevy aide with Brussels still not having the greatest of records for practising what it preaches on the energy saving front.
EU buildings emit tonnes of greenhouse gases every year, while commission chief José Manuel Barroso makes no bones about driving a gas-guzzling SUV. And, perhaps most importantly, since Mr McCreevy made the suggestion last month, the weather in Brussels has been vile - cold and raining .