Often, when people are introduced to Fine Gael TD Deirdre Clune, they ask her: "What do you do as well?" As a mother of four, and a full-time public representative, the question perplexes her. "People think that public representatives are solicitors, or they're publicans, or something. Well, I'm a homemaker and that takes up a lot of time." Every Tuesday morning Deirdre gets the early train from Cork to Dublin. She spends three days working in Leinster House and returns to Cork late on Thursday evenings. Mondays and Fridays she works in her constituency office in Douglas, Co Cork. Saturday afternoons and Sundays she spends, when she can manage it, with her husband Conor and their four sons, Rory (14), Peter (12), Robert (10) and Michael (four).
"I get the odd chance to be in on a Friday night as well," she says wistfully. Generally however, her evenings in Cork are filled with meetings and corporation work, along with making sandwiches for four school lunches the next day. "Sometimes I think if I had a wife I'd be a great politician," she jokes. Really, she says, her husband is wonderfully supportive and is invaluable in helping Deirdre to stay in touch with the children. "We're in constant contact. He makes sure I know exactly what is going on, when they have swimming lessons or piano lessons or ensuring they get to school on time."
Friday to Monday Deirdre and Conor run the home together. Midweek it's all up to Conor. "The mornings when I'm not there - and I wouldn't be there three mornings a week - he has to get two children to secondary school, one to national school and the other to playschool before he ever gets to work himself."
Monday is probably Deirdre's most hectic day. After she has dropped off her two youngest, Robert and Michael, she heads into her constituency office. "I'd have a lot of constituents coming in the morning because Monday's a day I'm available to people. If I have any meetings with planners or local authority officials I get them in the afternoon. The corporation meeting will start at about 5 p.m. and go through until about 7.30 p.m. and then I'd go home after that for an hour before I go out to more meetings."
Despite her packed schedule, she usually manages to collect the boys from school or meet them for lunch. "I always try to get home at some stage during the day because I'm conscious that I'm gone again until Thursday night and if I don't see them on Monday it's Friday again before I'm with them."
If her lifestyle permitted, Clune says she would love to make time for a session in the gym or a game of tennis, "or a hard day's shopping, that would be nice. It's all work and children really - but when they're young it's very important to keep it like that." Michael, now four years old, was a small baby when Deirdre was elected to the Dail in 1997. She had been able to stay at home for the other three boys and found the separation from her youngest child very difficult.
"He's adjusted very well, but I found it terrible at the time leaving my baby." Two years ago Michael had to have a heart operation, but Deirdre still had to keep working. "We had to spend two weeks in Crumlin hospital with him, I didn't go to the Dail or to the office but I kept up with work and dealt with post and things by his bedside. I think when you see emergencies it puts things in perspective. When children are really sick work takes second place.
"Theresa Ahearn, who died recently, said that the height of her week was always coming home. It's the same for me - it's lovely to come home on Thursday to see the kids."
