Tom McEllistrim, who died on February 25th, aged 68, played a prominent role in securing the Fianna Fail leadership for Charles Haughey in 1979, and remained a staunch ally of the former Taoiseach, inside and outside the Dail.
He was part of the "gang of five", with Albert Reynolds, Jackie Fahey, Sean Doherty and Mark Killilea, who campaigned within the Fianna Fail parliamentary party for Jack Lynch's replacement by Charles Haughey. At the time, Jack Lynch's government, with its 20-seat majority, was becoming increasingly unpopular. The group received the enthusiastic support of several backbenchers, who had been elected in Jack Lynch's landslide victory in 1977, and felt that their seats had become vulnerable. Over 20 of them signed a secret letter, circulated by Tom McEllistrim, calling for Lynch's resignation. Jack Lynch had already decided to step down early in 1980 but brought his retirement forward several months to help George Colley's chances of succeeding him.
When Charles Haughey defeated George Colley for the leadership, Tom McEllistrim was rewarded with the post of Minister of State for Finance, with responsibility for the Board of Works.
He triumphantly returned to his Kerry North constituency, driven in the first State car to be allocated there since Labour's Dan Spring had held a junior ministry in the late 1950s.
At a victory celebration he described himself as Charles Haughey's "campaign manager". Tom McEllistrim was a traditional rural politician, who saw ministerial promotion as a way of delivering to his constituents.
In an interview with The Irish Times, on his first day in office, he said that he might have been better in the Department of Agriculture, given his farming background, but "in the Board of Works I can look after the needs of my constituency."
For him, politics began and ended in Kerry North, where he was first elected to the Dail in 1969, following the retirement of his father, who had held the seat since 1923.
Tom McEllistrim senior was one of a number of Munster TDs who strongly encouraged Jack Lynch to contest the party leadership when Sean Lemass retired in 1966.
He fought in the War of Independence and took the republican side in the Civil War. A third generation of the family, also Tom McEllistrim, is a member of Kerry County Council, and is likely to be a candidate in the next general election.
Tom McEllistrim senior never held ministerial office under Eamon de Valera and Sean Lemass, and his son relished his junior ministry, dismissing the fall-out from the occasional verbal gaffe and indiscreet comment, as he pointed to his poll-topping success in Kerry North.
A flamboyant dresser, he was noted for his colourful shirts and ties, bright suits, and a ring of near episcopal dimensions. He lost office when Fianna Fail was defeated in the 1981 general election, but Charles Haughey made him Minister of State for Fisheries and Forestry, when the party held power from March to December, 1982.
By then, Tom McEllistrim's one-time secure seat was coming under threat from his party colleague, Denis Foley, who was first elected to the Dail in 1981.
They shared the same Tralee base, and, ultimately, one would lose out.
Tom McEllistrim lost his seat by four votes, after a marathon count, to outgoing Tanaiste and Labour TD, Dick Spring, in 1987, but Charles Haughey rescued his political career and appointed him to the Seanad.
He regained his seat, at Denis Foley's expense, in 1989, but lost it to him in 1992, when he retired from national politics.
Tom McEllistrim lived in Ballymacelligott, near Tralee, where he had a farm. He is survived by his wife Marie (nee O'Flaherty) son Tom, and daughter Anne.
Tom McEllistrim: born 1932; died February, 2000