The announcement by the veteran Fine Gael politician, Mr Liam Burke, that he will retire from politics at the next general election has opened up intriguing possibilities in the five-seat Cork North Central. Fianna Fail and Fine Gael now hold all the seats in the sprawling constituency on a 3/2 basis.
Curiously though, it is not Mr Burke's imminent departure that is exercising the pundits' minds, but that private polls indicate the return of a seat to Labour. The question is, at whose expense?
As he prepares to leave politics after more than 30 years, Mr Burke is sanguine about his party's prospects in the constituency.
His chosen successor is Mr Gerry Kelly, a schoolteacher from rural Knockraha, who won overwhelming support at the party's recent selection convention. He topped the poll ahead of Mr Bernard Allen and beat Mr Colm Burke, a city-based solicitor, by a huge margin.
The outgoing TD intends to throw his considerable political weight behind the newcomer, and that should count for a lot.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have conducted polls in recent months, indicating a genuine nervousness as to how the electorate will respond in Cork North Central. A third, private poll has also been conducted by a member of one of the political parties who wants to remain anonymous.
The result indicates that Labour's Ms Kathleen Lynch will win back a seat for Labour in a constituency that once gave the party in excess of 10,000 votes.
The Fine Gael poll, Mr Burke says, shows that even without him, the party will keep its two North Central seats and that resurgent Labour will win one at Fianna Fail's expense. The Fianna Fail poll and the private one show the same, according to party sources.
It seems to be agreed across the party divide that Mr Dan Wallace and Mr Billy Kelleher will hold their seats for Fianna Fail. In that case the loser would be Fianna Fail's Mr Noel O'Flynn. But he will fight hard for the ail seat he won at the last election.
Leaving mainstream politics with no regrets, Mr Burke - the "silver fox" to friends who know his canny political abilities - is already relishing the next battle in the constituency, because he is convinced that Mr Kelly can hold the seat.
"He'll be a very good candidate. I met him in a pub a few years ago when he was playing the guitar and I could see that he had a great way with the crowd . . .
"I had a chat with him and now he's on board. I think he will be well received by the electorate and he will have my full backing every step of the way," Mr Burke said.
After a lifetime in politics, which began even prior to his election as a member of Cork Corporation in 1967, Liam Burke's colourful career can be said to have spanned Fine Gael's own development.
He was a friend of James Dillon and has served under four Fine Gael leaders - Mr Liam Cosgrave, Dr Garret FitzGerald, Mr Alan Dukes and Mr John Bruton. His uncle, the late Tadhg Manley, was a Fine Gael deputy for Cork South between 1954 and 1961.
He was knocking on doors for Fine Gael when the party's organisation was extremely thin on the ground. He was elected to the Dail for the first time in 1969. He was elected again in 1973 but lost his seat in 1977 when he was only 42 days short of a Dail pension.
The death of Labour's Mr Pat Kerrigan led to the November 1979 by-election, a contest characterised by Mr Burke's doughty performance on the streets as he pressed the flesh, kissed the babies and returned to the Dail. He served until 1989 when Ms Mairin Quill, of the Progressive Democrats, beat him for the seat by 89 votes. After spells in the Seanad, he regained a Dail seat by a margin of 14 votes in 1992.
Prior to the last election he had decided to quit politics, but was pressed by the party to run again, which he did successfully. This time, he says, it is for real. There is no going back.
Mr Burke's most endearing quality has been a cheerful disposition which enabled him to run the political rapids, taking all the knocks along the way, as well as overcoming serious health problems. In 1984 he underwent a quadruple bypass, followed five years later by an angioplasty and subsequently a triple bypass. "That means my heart has been bypassed 10 times, and look at me. I never felt better, I'll be 72 next birthday and I'm on top of my form," he said.
The highlights of a long career have included serving as the Fine Gael representative on the Council of Europe between 1970 and 1976.
He predicts that after the next election Fine Gael will hold 10 of the 20 seats in the five Cork constituencies, gaining one in Cork North West to make it Fianna Fail one, Fine Gael two, and that further losses for Fianna Fail - to Labour in Cork North Central, and to Labour or the Green Party in Cork South Central - will reduce the party's overall standing from 11 to eight seats.
"I hope to be there to see it happen. I'm leaving politics but I'm staying in touch," he said.