Mr Gerry Collins may feel a sense of deja vu about speculation that Mr Padraig Flynn's current troubles will see him crowned Ireland's European commissioner at the end of Mr Flynn's term.
In 1993, by then a backbencher during Mr Albert Reynolds's coalition government, Mr Collins had been tipped as "a virtual certainty" for the £162,000-a-year post as Ireland's representative on the European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg.
However, at the eleventh hour, Mr Dick Spring claimed the position for Mr Barry Desmond and Mr Collins had to settle for a European Parliament nomination. Mr Collins's opponents within Fianna Fail were said to have done their best to whip up Labour's desire to appropriate the post. Whether Mr Collins is likely to face an internal challenge to his prospective candidacy this time around remains to be seen.
First elected to the Dail in 1967 in a by-election caused by the death of his father, who had represented the Limerick West constituency for 19 years, he battled through 10 elections and held the seat until his retirement from the Dail in 1996.
After a Cabinet career which saw him hold the portfolios of Posts and Telegraphs, Justice and Foreign Affairs, he was relegated to the back benches when Mr Reynolds became Taoiseach in 1992.
During the final "heave" against Mr Charles Haughey, Mr Collins made a legendary live appearance on RTE news. In an interview with Sean Duignan, he accused Mr Reynolds of "frightful political immaturity".
He then turned to face the studio camera and pleaded emotionally with Mr Reynolds not to "burst up" the party and "to pull back from wrecking the government and throwing the country into panic and chaos".
It was an unusual outburst from a man who normally came across as cautious, regarded by his enemies as almost too crafty for his own good. At the time, his performance was seen as his political suicide note. He subsequently limped through the European elections of 1994, missing the quota by a considerable margin and needing the transfers of relative novice Senator Brian Crowley to be elected MEP.
Apart from being elected vice-president of the European Parliament last June - one of 14 in all - Mr Collins has been a relatively low-profile MEP. He had relished his role in Ireland's presidency of the European Union during Mr Charles Haughey's last term as Taoiseach.
Though he told an interviewer in 1991 that he "would love to retire from politics when I'm about 60", it is still hard to imagine the now 60-year-old Mr Collins declining the chance to walk the corridors of power in Europe again.
