Through 15 years of crises and triumphs, Fergus Finlay has been at Dick Spring's side. Throughout that period he has probably said more to political reporters than has any other individual. As well as giving political advice to Mr Spring through the last decade and a half, Mr Finlay spoke informally to the press on a daily basis, giving his "read" of the political situation and thus influencing news coverage. His manner is polite and precise, but curt with those he distrusts.
He performed this dual role for 10 years before he came to public attention. This behind-the-scenes functionary began attracting publicity as an "unelected adviser" and "Svengali-like figure" only after Labour went into government with Fianna Fail in December 1992.
That was the beginning of a coalition that Mr Finlay had opposed. He was credited with inventing the system of programme managers, whereby there would be an individual in each government department whose role was to press for the implementation of the government's ambitious policy programme.
Fine Gael and the Progressive Democrats painted the programme managers and ministerial advisers as an unelected and powerful layer of political handlers with excessive influence. Mr Finlay, though an adviser to Mr Spring rather than a programme manager, was seen as the key "handler".
He always put forward a more modest view of his role than did others. "I'm an adviser, I suggest", he said in an interview two years ago.
"I don't make decisions. Dick takes my advice maybe about half the time - and I think it's very good advice. I draft speeches; I don't write them. Any image of me as a puppet master is absolute rubbish."
At the sub-committee examining the circumstances surrounding the fall of the Fianna Fail/ Labour coalition, Fianna Fail deputies attempted to put much of the blame for the collapse on Mr Finlay. He denied being the source of a series of leaked stories and comments attributed to unnamed Labour sources critical of Mr Albert Reynolds.
He is 47 years old, married to artist Frieda Carpenter, and they have four daughters. He went to school at Presentation College, Bray, and studied economics and public administration at UCC.
He worked for the Post Office Officials' Association, the Workers' Union of Ireland and the Local Government and Public Services Union, now IMPACT. He also worked for a time with a US multinational in Cork.
He joined the Labour Party in 1979 and went to work as party press secretary and spokesman with Mr Spring in 1983, shortly after he became Labour leader. He quickly became deputy government press secretary during the 1983-87 coalition.
He drafted most of Mr Spring's speeches ("He could churn out good speech after good speech, even when he was in bad form", says one observer) but was always more than just a scriptwriter, being a close political adviser and troubleshooter as well.
He played a major role in arresting the depression in the party after it left office in 1987, culminating in the successful defeat of what was a growing challenge to the party leadership from the left of the party at the 1989 conference.
From there he went on to play a key role in the election of Mrs Mary Robinson as President, and in the defining of Mr Spring as the leader of opposition to low standards in government. This ultimately led to the party's spectacular 1992 general election triumph.
He has written two books: a political novel, A Cruel Trade, and an account of Mrs Robinson's presidential election campaign, Mary Robinson, a President with a Purpose.
Some party backbenchers expressed resentment that many key decisions seemed to be made by Mr Spring after consultation with his advisers, rather than with them. They point to the selection of Ms Adi Roche as the party's presidential candidate as an example of this.
In response Mr Spring and Mr Finlay can point to major growth of the party, to its spectacular 1992 general election result, the election of Mrs Robinson as president and major changes in the party's structure and constitution over the past 15 years. When things were going right, there was no such criticism.
It is uncertain what he will do next. He has said that he would never seek public office.
He has a continuing interest in writing and said in 1995: "I will write something deep and profound - eventually."