JIM Mitchell, who died on December 1st aged 56 was, in electoral terms, one of the most unselfish politicians of his generation.
In a profession notorious for the creation of personal fiefdoms, he stood aside to make way for a more senior Fine Gael figure, and later, in the Dáil, assisted constituency running mates to get elected.
He was, at 29, Dublin's youngest lord mayor, served in a number of ministries, and was Fine Gael deputy leader when he lost his Dáil seat in the general election of May 2002. He will probably be best remembered by many for his skilful handling of the televised inquiry by the Dail Public Accounts Committee into the scandals associated with the banks' operation of the Deposit Income Retention Tax (DIRT) in 1999.
In the 1960s, he was attracted to the liberal wing of Fine Gael, with its largely middle-class following, but never forgot his Dublin working-class roots. He was a tough, pragmatic politician, capable of stinging Dáil attacks on his opponents, delivered in a pronounced Dublin accent. But he was a party man, first and last, and one of a key group on whom Dr Garret FitzGerald relied when he took over the Fine Gael leadership in 1977.
Jim Mitchell was born on October 19th, 1946 into an old Inchicore family, the seventh of 10 children. He had an early experience of the devastating effects of cancer, the disease which would eventually claim his own life. His father died of cancer when Jim Mitchell was 10 and his sister Anne and brother Peter died of cancer in their 40s.
When Jim Mitchell was 14, he followed in his family's footsteps by successfully taking the Guinness examination. He worked at the brewery while finishing his Leaving Certificate and went on to do computer studies by night at Trinity College.
In 1974, he was elected to Dublin City Council. A brother, Gay, currently TD for Dublin South Central, would later follow him into local and national politics.
Jim Mitchell said he entered politics inspired by Declan Costello's "Just Society" document and determined to combat "the injustices of Irish society against working-class people". Other personalities who influenced him included Dr FitzGerald, Seán Lemass, Seán MacBride and Robert Kennedy.
His first Dáil contest was in a 1970 by-election, and instead of pursuing his own ambitions in the 1973 general election, he invited Declan Costello to stand and helped get him elected on his transfers. The same year, he married Patricia Kenny, a nurse from near Mountbellow, Co Galway.
Jim Mitchell lost another by-election in 1976, and, a year later, he was finally elected to the Dáil for the new Ballyfermot constituency. He was immediately appointed to the front bench as spokesman on labour.
Following the 1981 general election, Dr FitzGerald made him minister for justice in the new Fine Gael-Labour coalition.
Dr FitzGerald later recalled he believed the new minister would be "sound on security and liberal on law reform". During his time in Justice, he introduced legislation to abolish the death penalty.
Jim Mitchell later moved to the Dublin West constituency and displayed considerable political skill in helping to secure the election there twice of a former EEC commissioner, Dick Burke, to a second Fine Gael seat. In March 1982, Dick Burke accepted the offer to return to Brussels from the then Fianna Fáil taoiseach, Charles Haughey, who believed that his party would win the subsequent by-election and secure its place in power.
Jim Mitchell was furious and saw Dick Burke's action as a betrayal of himself and the party. Undaunted, he threw himself into the by-election, and helped to secure the unexpected election of a political unknown, Liam Skelly, and thwart Fianna Fáil's plans.
When Fine Gael returned to power with Labour in 1982, Jim Mitchell was made minister for communications. He later served as minister for transport and minister for posts and telegraphs.
He worked hard to bring the semi-State bodies into the modern age, establishing An Post and Telecom Éireann and dividing CIÉ into three separate companies. Gemma Hussey, a Fine Gael minister at the time, later described him as "the most emotional" of her male colleagues.
Back in opposition in 1987, he became spokesman on social welfare. He publicly disapproved of the so-called "Tallaght Strategy" - conditional support for the minority Fianna Fáil government - of the new Fine Gael leader, Alan Dukes.
Relations with the next party leader, John Bruton, were strained, with Jim Mitchell observing in 1994 that his boss had a "charisma deficit". Perhaps disillusioned with national politics, Jim Mitchell decided to run for the European Parliament in 1994, although Fine Gael already had a sitting MEP, Mary Banotti, and seemed to have little chance of winning two seats in Dublin.
He narrowly failed to win a seat. He also unsuccessfully contested the 1999 European election while not in good health.
He voted against John Bruton in a leadership challenge and was omitted from the Cabinet when Fine Gael unexpectedly took power in a Rainbow administration in 1994.
He indicated that he was retiring from politics in advance of the 1997 general election, but changed his mind in response to pleas from the party. He did well to win a seat in Dublin Central.
The same year, he had emergency surgery for a rare form of cancer, and his condition worsened as he chaired the Public Accounts Committee inquiry into the DIRT irregularities two years later. But he succeeded in producing a final report before going into hospital for a liver transplant in September 2000.
He made a good recovery and returned to active politics. In early 2001, Michael Noonan and himself precipitated a leadership challenge against John Bruton.
When Michael Noonan became the new leader, he appointed Jim Mitchell as his deputy and spokesman on finance. He continued to shoulder a huge workload, in and out of the Dáil, but lost his seat in the 2002 election as the electoral tide went out for Fine Gael.
Some time later, his health began to deteriorate, and, in time, it emerged that his illness was irreversible. Former colleagues and friends who visited him in his final days found him philosophical and ready for death.
Jim Mitchell is survived by his wife, Patricia; his sons Ruairí and Neil; his daughters Sinéad, Aoife and Caítriona; brothers Jack, Davy and Gay; and sisters Hazel, Marie, Patsy and Jackie B.
Jim Mitchell: born October 19th, 1946; died December 1st, 2002.