HER MANNER IS brisk and business-like. Life in the nerve centre of the Department of Foreign Affairs is busy at the best of times, but today, what with Ireland's presidency of the European Union, the recently concluded visit to Dublin of Yasser Arafat, the peace process and the on-going nature of Anglo-Irish affairs, there is little time to chat in the corridors of Iveagh House.

"There's not a lot of time for the word `I'. It's about moving it along, making it happen," says Cliona Manahan Leslie, who finds that her work as press officer at the Department of Foreign Affairs has hardly prepared her for answering questions about herself or her career.

As a first secretary at the department, her schedule is hectic. With responsibilities that include deputising as spokeswoman on all sorts of sensitive political issues, Manahan Leslie's duties do not allow for long, leisurely lunch breaks. "The job is with you for all your waking hours," she says. "It's a huge responsibility."

To date her job has included managing the press section's involvement at events such as President Clinton's visit last year, the special meeting of the Council of Ministers last month and the informal meeting of foreign ministers in September. Forthcoming events include the EU-US summit and the council-meeting in December.

The over-riding quality that the Department of Foreign Affairs looks for in applicants, she says, is good judgment.

"It's balancing initiative with the need for judgment and consultation because while initiative is very important, you are working with a team the whole time, and there's a need to consult constantly. You need to be able to plug into the expertise that's there."

Looking back at her own entry through the third-secretary exams in 1979, she says her background in law has been of particular relevance in her career to date.

But the relevance of her education stretches back much further than that. Her interest in a range of social, political and human rights issues, including the emerging role Ireland was to play in Europe, stemmed to a large extent from her religious-education classes at the Holy Child School in Killiney, Co Dublin, she says.

She remembers Sister Phil Kilroy, who introduced subjects that were to influence and shape Cliona's approach to Irish and world affairs. She opened windows," she says, and encouraged debate and discussion. "I was part of that mid-1970s awakening, when we were looking at Irish society, Irish women and our role," she explains. "We had some stimulating role models.

"I remember discussing the Constitution in school and taking it home and reading it," she says. "Ireland had recently gone into the European Union."

It was a logical progression, she says, to carry on and learn more about Irish law, international law and human rights. She went to Trinity College Dublin. and recalls the stimulating influence of her lecturers, in particular the then-Reid Professor of Law, Mary Robinson, and her tutor, Kader Asmal.

She never had any interest in becoming a practitioner in the courtroom, she says. Her eyes were fixed firmly on the substance of the law and in the role states play at national and international level.

At college she was actively involved in political, social and civil rights issues. During her time at TCD she edited the DU Law Journal and was secretary of the Law Society. She was also a fundraiser for Women's Aid and a member of FLAC.

Since joining the Department of Foreign Affairs, Manahan Leslie has worked in the press and information division and in the political and economic division, as well as in London as private secretary to the ambassador and assistant press officer. She has also worked on the Department's UN and human rights desk.

"It's a small department by comparison with other ministries," she says. "We still know each other, and that means there's a real team effort."