The former leader of the Labour Party, Mr Dick Spring, said yesterday that he had recently been offered a position with the European Union in Macedonia, but had decided against taking it.
Mr Spring's candidacy in the next general election has been in doubt. The Sinn FΘin candidate, Mr Martin Ferris, has had an increasingly high profile in the Kerry North constituency and, according to a recent TG4 poll, would be in line for a seat.
But yesterday the former Tβnaiste, who polled above Mr Ferris in the TG4 poll, said he had decided to stay in Kerry and fight the next election rather than accept the offer of being an EU High Representative in Macedonia.
"I had to look at my own constituency and I did give consideration to a number of other things, but I think the crunch came a number of weeks ago when I was offered the position", he said on TV3's Agenda programme.
Mr Spring said he and his family had decided they did not want to leave Kerry. "I am very pleased I am standing again and going to fight to win the seat for the Labour Party in Kerry North."
He said he could understand people thinking he had not been visible politically, but a lot of adjustment had to be made after his leadership of the party over 15 years. "I wanted to create more space for my successor. I think I was very successful at doing that. I think, in fairness to Ruair∅ Quinn, it was his job to lead the party. I'm very pleased with his leadership."
If Labour formed part of the next government he would be happy to serve as a minister if asked, he said. "In my own experience in over 20 years in Dβil ╔ireann, it's much better to be able to get things done as a minister or as a part of government, and obviously, if I'm called to serve, I will serve."
If the Labour Party got into government, he said, the party leader would have a lot of difficult decisions to make. "Of course, that's a matter for the people. We have to win enough seats to be part of the next government."
On his reading of recent opinion polls, the jury was "still out" on who would form the next Government. It could be a Rainbow coalition or a Fianna Fβil/Labour coalition, but he doubted that Fianna Fβil and the PDs would get enough seats to return to power.
Asked about the prospect of fighting Mr Ferris for a seat at the next election, Mr Spring said he had never run on the basis of attacking his opponents. "I run on the basis of what I can offer the people of North Kerry. If I am elected by the people of North Kerry, it will be because of the work done by Dick Spring."
Asked if he had missed the power which came with being in office, he said he had been busy and working hard at other things.
"I wouldn't like to think I would be hungering for power. I enjoyed being in politics and being Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tβnaiste . But I'm not sure if I enjoyed my first experience in government. It was very difficult back in the 1980s.