Mr Burke had an impressive ability to survive political miscalculations that would have sunk other political careers:
In December 1989 he backed Mr George Colley in the Fianna Fail leadership contest won by Mr Haughey. Despite this he was retained as a Minister for State and became a full Cabinet Minister less than a year later.
In January 1983 he supported the failed attempt to oust Mr Haughey as Fianna Fail leader. He was dropped from the front bench but was reappointed to Cabinet when the party returned to power in 1987.
In 1989 he was among those who offered Mr Haughey the disastrous advice to call a general election in an attempt to win an overall majority. Fianna Fail returned to power only at the price of losing two Cabinet seats to the Progressive Democrats. Mr Burke had failed to bring in his running mate Mr G.V. Wright in Dublin North.
There was speculation that he would lose his Cabinet seat to make way for the PDs. Instead, he was promoted, being appointed Minister for Justice and Communications.
Mr Bertie Ahern was aware of allegations concerning his receipt of money from a building firm in 1989. Mr Ahern also had Mr Burke investigated three times over the passports-for-sale affair. Despite these concerns, he appointed him Minister for Foreign Affairs in June 1997 and defended him publicly until he resigned.