He knows nothing else and after a 45 year involvement with politics there is nothing else he would rather be doing.

He was speaking on his way home from Dublin just hours after he was told by the Taoiseach that he would no longer be serving as a Minister for State after 13 years of government service. Brian Cowen said he had given some thought to the retaining him but could not justify having the Táinaiste and one other government representative in the one constituency.

While disappointed at the news, he is a realist and the disappointment at the cabinet’s decision had been soothed by the huge number of calls of support he had received from the constituency and beyond.

The self-confessed “phone-a-holic” was surprised at the number of calls and even as he spoke to this reporter one of his phones rang. “ Bosco. I had a call from everyone of your family.” It was one of dozens of calls that he took in the hours after the news broke.

Looking back on a career as one of the longest serving ministers for state, he is most proud of winning back the seat on his return from the European Parliament and securing the seat for the eighth time last year when many pundits had put him at risk from Sinn Féin.

“I am a little disappointed but that disappointment is completely overshadowed by the unprecedented number of telephone calls and text messages that i have received today. I have never taken as many calls as I did today from genuine and sincere people who are extremely disappointed for me.”

He said he accepted the decision of the cabinet and is determined to fulfill the mandate granted to him by the people of Donegal South West.

“Now that I have been relieved of my national responsibilities I will be even more effective for the people of Donegal South West and I will be in the county a lot more.”

He had hoped that the minister for state position should have been kept in the county even if it was taken from himself. “That would have been some consolation,” he said.

Over the 27 years since he was first elected to the Dáil he believes he has established one of the biggest network of contacts of any public representative and that will now be used to even more effect for the people of Donegal South West. “There is still a lot to be done. There are schools required, there’s the water investment programme to be implemented. While a lot of work has been done there is still work required on infrastructure, and jobs are needed. I am delighted that one of my last functions was to announce 135 high value jobs for Dungloe for a factory that I was very much involved with when it was built for Fruit of Loom.”

With regards to his future, the 60-year-old is harbouring no thoughts about stepping down before the next general election.