Mr David Andrews returns next week to a Stormont complex that is hosting a talks process very different in pace and tone than the one he participated in in 1992. Back then, he witnessed endless procedural wrangling and as Minister for Foreign Affairs was the man who had to hold the line of the government.
The issue at the time seems very obscure in hindsight: The government and the SDLP wanted a mechanism that would force unionists to talk to the Dublin government within a certain time of the commencement of talks between the Northern Ireland parties.
The unionists wanted an open ended "Strand One" talks process to agree on internal Northern Ireland structures before Dublin got involved.
Now he will return to a talks table where unionists and Sinn Fein representatives sit side by side, where nobody argues about the timing of Strand Two and where all parties appear to be demanding rapid progress to core issues. The Northern talks will inevitably dominate his first few months in Iveagh House, and he will have no relaxed preparatory period.
As Minister for Foreign Affairs he will also be a central figure in the Government's campaign for a Yes vote in the referendum on the Amsterdam Treaty, expected in the Spring.
Mr Andrews was surprised to be plucked from political obscurity in 1992 at the age of 57 by Albert Reynolds and handed the plum job of Minister for Foreign Affairs. He loved it, and was deeply disappointed yet philosophical when he had to make way for Dick Spring the following year. Mr Andrews moved to Defence and the Marine - "fish and ships" as he once called it.
He wanted the job again last June but had Ray Burke's claim to contend with. Mr Ahern tried to give him a slice of it - European Affairs - but withdrew that proposal after constitutional objections.
Now at 62 he is back again in the post he coveted. He had little time to make his mark on the last occasion, but now he could be facing into a four-year term.
He sees himself not just as a pragmatist but as having a feel for the post in the Fianna Fail tradition, epitomised by Mr Frank Aiken in the 1960s, of putting forward a distinct independent Irish position internationally. His family is from that tradition.
Mr Andrews is the son of the late Dr C.S. "Todd" Andrews who headed CIE and Bord na Mona and was one of the figureheads of the Lemass era. His brother, Niall, is the long-serving Dublin MEP.
He is not a Minister to stick rigidly to a brief supplied by officials. Or as one source said last night: "He doesn't like being given a bit of paper and being told to read it out."
Once described by critics of his party as "the acceptable face of Fianna Fail", Mr Andrews has had a long political career but a short ministerial one. Elected to the Dail to represent Dun Laoghaire in 1965 he has held the seat since then. He served in a number of junior ministries, including foreign affairs and justice, under Jack Lynch and was seen as having a Cabinet career in front of him.
However, when Mr Haughey took over from Mr Lynch in 1979, Mr Andrews backed George Colley and spent all the Haughey years on the back-benches.
As in the case of his more recent political disappointments, he appeared resigned and accepting of his fate. He concentrated on his legal career and constituency work, but also became involved in a number of international issues related to Ireland.
He was an early supporter of the cause of the Birmingham Six and represented the government at its unsuccessful 1987 appeal in the British courts. He also represented the government the following year at the inquest into the shooting of three IRA members in Gibraltar.
He lobbied in the Middle East for the release of the Belfast hostage, Brian Keenan, and travelled to Iraq to seek the release of Irish citizens there who were unable to obtain exit visas in the prelude to the Gulf War.
Mr Andrews has a somewhat patrician manner, and a languid style which some of his critics construe as indicating laziness. He is popular across parties in Leinster House and is socially good company. In the run up to the present presidential election campaign, Mr Andrews was frequently spoken of as a possible contender. His Dail seat was regarded as particularly vulnerable should he run for the Park and cause a by-election. Mr Andrews ruled himself out of the contest at a late stage.
He has a keen interest in sport, especially soccer and rugby. He played rugby at inter-provincial level and played soccer for University College, Dublin, and is a patron of the Football Association of Ireland.
He was educated at Colaiste Mhuire in Parnell Square and Mount St Joseph's Cistercian College, Roscrea, Co Tipperary. He studied law at UCD and the Kings Inns and was called to the Bar in 1962. He married Annette Cusack of Co Cavan and they have two sons and three daughters.