The former Fianna Fáil minister, David Andrews, went to Paris for a weekend early in 1986 to agonise over whether or not to leave Fianna Fáil and join the fledgling Progressive Democrats.
In the end he decided to remain in the party his father had helped to found.
In his memoir, Kingstown Republican, launched last night by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Mr Andrews recalls how he went to see Des O'Malley in early 1986 to tell the PD leader he was considering joining the new party but that he would need some time to think it over.
"I found the idea of a new organisation, away from the misery of Haughey's reign, very attractive, but I decided to take some space to reflect deeply about the move. I realised what a momentous thing it would be for me to leave Fianna Fáil, the party I had served for 20 years and that had been such a part of my life from a very young age."
The issue arose around the time of the Ireland-France rugby international in Paris so he decided to go to the French capital to consider his political future while taking in the match.
". . . but I didn't make it to the match. For that weekend I must have walked many, many miles around Paris, thinking about my future and the decision I had to make." The decision he made was to stay in Fianna Fáil.
"It was then my task to tell Des O'Malley that I would not be joining the new party. He had probably been satisfied in his own mind that I would be joining. It is very likely that I had given him that impression when I called to his house.
"He was non-committal in his reaction . . . though I think he was both surprised and disappointed; but I hope we have retained mutual respect for each other."
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