Since he resigned as Minister for Foreign Affairs and FF deputy for Dublin North last October, Ray Burke, a man with one of the highest profiles in Irish politics and the longest of careers at the top, has been keeping a very low profile indeed. Originally an estate agent and auctioneer in his father's firm in Swords, he was involved in developing and selling hundreds of new houses in the local River Valley area.
He was elected to the county council in 1967 and took his father's Dail seat, (in the family since 1944), in 1973. In recent years he was a director of a Dublin insurance company, but over the last nine months does not appear to have been working. However, according to sources, he has been devoting his time to preparing for his appearance at the Flood Tribunal which is looking into possible corruption in the planning process in North Dublin.
This week the Fingal In- dependent, based in Swords, said the 50-year dominance of the Burke family is over and that his daughter will not get a nomination in the future. It says that the scathing criticism of his failure to disclose payment details indicates that Burke loyalists may step down or lose out at the constituency AGM elections on Tuesday.