MR Jim Mitchell said yesterday he believed the Fine Gael seat in Dublin Central would be lost to Fianna Fail if he did not run again. He denied he had been promised "any position whatsoever" to change his mind about, leaving political life.
The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton attended a special meeting of the Fine Gael Dublin Central constituency party yesterday. Councillor John Kearney, selected to run for Fine Gael, announced he was standing aside and pledged his support for the re-election of Mr Mitchell.
Mr Mitchell said he and some colleagues, including Mr Ted Nealon, had examined each constituency and concluded that a Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats coalition would have 80 seats, Fine Gael/Labour/Democratic Left would have 79 and others would have seven.
"In this calculation, and in others I have seen, the Fine Gael seat in Dublin Central would be lost to Fianna Fail," Mr Mitchell added.
Despite every effort, Fine Gael had been unable to find a panel of candidates likely to hold the Dublin Central seat, Mr Mitchell said. "If the election is so close, this loss could be decisive in bringing about the downfall of the present government. I think that that eventuality would be a national tragedy."
In particular Mr Mitchel added, the social consensus underpinning Ireland's sustained economic boom would be seriously undermined by the presence in government of the Progressive Democrats. As for Fianna Fail, Mr Mitchell said the party had been corrupted by being always in power or close to power.
For these reasons, Mr Mitchell went on, "I have decided to forgo my personal plans and to offer myself for re-election in Dublin Central in the hope that I will hold the seat and, thereby, assist the Government, under John Bruton's capable leadership, in winning the extra three or four seats necessary to ensure a majority."
Mr Mitchell wanted to make it clear that this was the only reason for his change of plan.
He announced last October that he was retiring from politics after 19 years to pursue new interests in Europe and, in the private sector, including Esat Digifone which Mr Mitchell advises. Mr Mitchell, who first became a minister in 1980, voted against Mr Bruton in the vote of confidence in the Fine Gael leader in February, 1994.
In a biographical note handed to the media yesterday, Mr Mitchell recalled saying then that if Mr Bruton ever became Taoiseach he would be excellent in the job. ..... however, the dilemma for the party is that he was not a vote-getter and he appeared to suffer from a charismatic deficit."