When Ireland's EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, Mr David Byrne, left Dublin for his surprise appointment to Brussels, farewell notices spoke of his "low-key" term as Attorney General and of a man who enjoyed the buzz of politics but did not have the clout or style of some of his predecessors.
But, though low-profile during his terms as Attorney General and commissioner, Mr Byrne showed he was more than a loyal pair of hands. He contributed significantly to the sensitive management of a number of politically difficult issues, from negotiations on the Belfast Agreement to the establishment of the Flood, Moriarty and Hepatitis C tribunals at home, and to the aftermath of the BSE crisis in Brussels.
His announcement yesterday that he will not seek reappointment to the commission will serve to ignite further speculation about his succession. But that should not overshadow his notable contribution to the Union at an important time. Ireland's second Attorney General to be posted to Brussels, Mr Byrne has never been elected to public office, but he brought with him years of experience as a backroom adviser to Fianna Fáil and particularly the confidence of the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, with whom he had a strong relationship. His legal background appealed to the commission president, Mr Romano Prodi, who needed someone to take on the challenge of food safety in the wake of the BSE crisis. Mr Byrne was propelled swiftly on to TV screens around the EU to cool nerves and preach the virtues of a scientific approach to BSE, foot-and-mouth, dioxins, and GMOs. He did so with a calm competence that won many friends and laid the basis for what will be his lasting legacy, the EU's Food Safety Authority. In the wake of SARS and the Avian flu epidemic, he has been instrumental also in establishing a Europe-wide centre for monitoring disease.
Although perhaps seen as a technocrat, Mr Byrne's record in conviction politics goes back to the early 1970s when he was one of the founders of the Free Legal Advice Centres and he campaigned for EU accession. He remains a passionate Europhile, convinced the EU has undersold itself, and he saw his job as an opportunity to bridge that gap with citizens by addressing their day to day concerns. He launched initiatives, most notably on tobacco advertising, protection of small consumers, and food labelling. Even when persuaded by the industry case for legalising GM crops, sanction was made dependent on the advance introduction of full labelling and traceability provisions so that the issue became one of consumer choice. It was a quiet, bottom-up approach that, like Mr Byrne's record, deserves to be applauded.