Who is the real Joe Walsh? For over two decades the TD from West Cork has had a solid, if largely unremarkable career, the majority of it spent at the Department of Agriculture.

The perception of Walsh has been one of a nice, decent, shy man, who went quietly and somewhat unspectacularly about his business, maybe listening a little too much to his officials. But having spent almost 12 of the last 14 years in the Department, he's suddenly looking like a spanking new man.

The Minister has been guiding us through the possibly perilous pitfalls of foot-and-mouth disease and in the process got the entire State behind the effort. His confidence is growing daily; he is speaking in shorter, sharper sentences, and most importantly, the perception is that the State is in good hands at this time of crisis. In the words of one admirer, his apparently new persona has left people gobsmacked.

Foot-and-mouth seems to have been the makings of the Minister. After an initial few days of fluffing about, he grabbed hold of the reins and has been firmly in control since. He has been running his own show without any need for intervention or assistance from Bertie Ahern.

Of all the Cabinet ministers he is the one with the most experience and knowledge of his portfolio. His fans would have pointed to this as an advantage while critics would have said he had become rather jaded. He has had his major successes in Brussels negotiating on behalf of our 140,000 farmers but this made little impression on the general public.

But this week they are speaking with a new respect. One leading farmers' representative admitted he was "quite impressed".

"Previously he was seen as being a bit tired, laid back, even lazy. This has really motivated him. I couldn't find much fault with him either politically or practically."

It is also difficult for his opposition markers in Labour and Fine Gael to find too much fault. He has listened to their suggestions on how to combat foot-and-mouth, taken a number of them on board, thereby making them a part of the process.

Walsh's appointment to Cabinet in 1997 marked his return to the Agriculture portfolio which he held prior to the dissolution of the Fianna Fail/Labour coalition in 1994. He has managed to secure either a junior or senior ministry in every government in which Fianna Fail has participated since 1987.

His last appointment was a bit of a surprise, and it was felt he might not have got it except that few colleagues wanted to preside over an area which they felt left little opportunity for glory. At any rate his portfolio was said to have been savaged, having lost forestry and food safety and been left simply as an agency for dispensing European money.

Agriculture has always been a passion for him. His interest in Irish produce has always extended from the farm gate all the way to the fork. He was appointed the first Minister for Food in 1987. Seeing the need for a single agency to market Irish food, he established An Bord Bia in 1994.

JOE WALSH was born in Ballineen, Co Cork, in May 1943 to a large farming family and went to school in Farranferris, the diocesan seminary in Cork. He met his wife, Marie Donegan, a nurse, at a dance in the Lilac Ballroom in Enniskeane. They married in 1970. They had five children and live in a Georgian house in Emmet Square in Clonakilty. In recent weeks he has hardly been able to make the long trek home and then it has only been for one day.

He graduated from UCC with a dairy science degree and was responsible for setting up the first Fianna Fail cumann in the college. His early working life as a dairy manager would stand him in excellent stead in his ministerial portfolios.

He was first elected in 1977 but lost his seat four years later. A year previously he was involved in a car accident. Driving home late from a meeting he fell asleep at the wheel. He suffered severe facial injuries and almost lost an eye.

With that eye held in place by 35 micro-stitches he battled to regain his seat, with his wife driving him all over the country to canvass Fianna Fail councillors as part of the Seanad campaign. He won a seat and was back in the Dail in the general election seven months later.

There are some who believe he never quite got over losing his seat and he has guarded it jealously ever since, much to the frustration of Fianna Fail headquarters who see a second seat for the taking in Cork South West.

Walsh's assistance has been distinctly lacking in this regard. According to one person who knows him at a constituency level, he can be hyper-sensitive and very difficult to deal with when it comes to such matters. "He's the classic rural politician, if you're not with him, you're agin him. He doesn't really trust people."

He was part of the so-called Gang of 22 that opposed Charles Haughey's leadership in the early 1980s, a stand that could have consigned him to the backbenches for years. Despite having gone against his leader he was appointed a minister of state for agriculture in 1987 when Fianna Fail returned to power.

He and his senior minister at that time, Michael O'Kennedy, did not have a good relationship. On the occasion of the launch of the Goodman International development plan for the meat industry in 1987, Walsh received much praise from Haughey.

Rarely one to show his emotions in the Dail chamber, there is one memorable occasion in 1987 when he became involved in a bitter exchange with Fine Gael's then spokeswoman on agriculture, Avril Doyle, who accused him of misleading the beef tribunal. He described this as a "most serious slur" on him, saying his evidence at all times was based on his knowledge of the events leading to the Government decision on the Goodman plan.

His interests in life are said to be his family, politics and sport. He isn't seen hanging around the Dail bar although he enjoys socialising. He is a wine connoisseur and loves to spend time in northern Italy. Like the Taoiseach he is a keen Manchester United fan, but his real passion is reserved for horse racing.

While the rest of the State was suffering as a result of the foot-and-mouth restrictions, the Minister was feeling his own pain. For over 20 years he and a group of friends have attended the Cheltenham racing festival and its cancellation was a huge personal disappointment to him. One observer rather wryly noted this week that he reckoned the Minister was having "such a good epidemic because he can't be distracted by horse racing".

The chairman of Bord Bia and chief executive of IAWS, Philip Lynch, has been a friend since childhood. He remembers they met playing the traditional West Cork game of bowling when they were 13.

"I played him for a shilling I didn't have and we have been friends ever since. He's a great guy, thoroughly honest, loyal. He doesn't exert himself on anybody and maybe that's gone against him over the years. He doesn't say an awful lot, but you better listen when he does say it."