He has worked with 15 successive government ministers, and most of them were afraid of him. Such is his influence that one former political party leader is known to have had "sudden mood changes" at the very mention of his name. Now Joey Murrin, fishing industry leader, is retiring - "but", he warned at the opening of Fish Ireland 2000 in his home port of Killybegs, Co Donegal, this week, "I'm not quite going away".

In fact, he hasn't even booked a holiday, and won't be clearing his desk at the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation office in Bruach na Mara for another few months.

His replacement - expected to be a senior official with Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) - will have a hard act to follow. So hard that Mr Murrin is staying on part-time in an advisory role until early next year.

After 22 years as chief executive in the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation and more than three decades serving at national and international level in fishing politics, Mr Murrin believes it is time to go.

He made his intentions clear several months ago at the Killybegs group's annual general meeting, when he also promised that he wouldn't quit until a replacement had been found. Now that one has, he will step down on September 31st, but will be available for the crucial December fisheries negotiations in Brussels.

A master of the soundbyte, but without any formal public relations training, he has been the envy of many a spin doctor over the years. One such off-the-cuff comment, given in an interview with this newspaper four years ago, referred to the marine sector being "consultant-dominated" at a time when many Government departments were already relying heavily on paid advisers.

"The people who know nothing coming to the people who know everything, picking their brains, charging a lot of money, writing a report, presenting it to the people who know everything and charging them again" was how he described the situation. In short, Murrin-speak for people who "borrow your watch to tell you the time".

Mr Murrin first came to prominence in 1971 at a time when fishermen felt they were getting a raw deal during Ireland's accession to the European Union. He was working as a deckhand as he had done on various boats from 1954 to 1974. Elected secretary of the then Killybegs Fishermen's Association in 1958, he became its chairman in 1973. The following year, he was voted chairman of the Irish Fishermen's Organisation and served for five years.

In 1979, he left to set up the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation as a producers' body and was also nominated to his first of several terms as director of Bord Iascaigh Mhara. Most observers knew he was destined for politics and, in 1986, the then Taoiseach, Dr Garret FitzGerald, appointed him as chairman of BIM. Dr FitzGerald also asked him to stand for Fine Gael as a European election candidate in Connacht-Ulster.

Though he was unsuccessful, he made serious inroads into a traditional Fianna Fail fishermen's vote. It left him free to continue his criticism of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy, which left Ireland with less than 4 per cent of the catch after signing over what amounted to 16 per cent of EU waters.

As the multimillion Killybegs mackerel fleet grew in size - with the £24 million Veronica owned by his close friend, Kevin McHugh, becoming the flagship in 1995 - so did his influence.

From 1995, he served again as director of BIM. On completion of that three-year term in 1998, he was appointed to the board of the Marine Institute.

During that time, he was heavily involved in the first expansion in 15 years, after a bleak period of tonnage and licence restrictions. Unlike the mackerel sector, the bulk of the national fleet - catching whitefish - had faced cutback after cutback as the EU pursued its relentless "single market" approach. The turning point, as far as influencing Government policy here was concerned, was the loss of six fishermen on board the Carrickatine, a Greencastle, Co Donegal, vessel, in 1995. Whitefish vessels had not only become uneconomic, but unsafe, as skippers leasing second-hand rejects purchased in other member-states were forced to steam further and further out and take greater risks to try and make a living.

The then Minister, Mr Sean Barrett, commissioned a fleet review and a renewal scheme, involving construction of more than 30 new vessels was initiated by his successor, Dr Michael Woods.

"The fishing industry has gone through massive changes since I first went to sea in 1954," Mr Murrin said in Killybegs yesterday at a Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation luncheon attended by the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Fahey. "From the simple hunting operation it was at that time, it has developed into a high-tech, high investment business, with vessels navigated by satellite and fish located and caught using systems undreamed of half a century ago."

He has a few plans, a few "other things I would like to turn my hand to before finally hanging up my sea boots". He will continue on the Marine Institute board, and is a member of the National Salmon Management Commission.

But there is one certainty- his wife, Betty, won't want him hanging around the house. He might have to become one of those dreaded consultants after all . . .