James Gerard Collins was born in October 1938 in Abbeyfeale, County Limerick. He was educated locally at St. Ita's College, Patrician College, Ballyfin and at University College Dublin where he founded the Kevin Barry Cumann of the Fianna Fáil party. After leaving college he worked as a vocational school teacher. Between 1965 and 1967 Collins served as assistant general-secretary of Fianna Fáil. In 1967 Collins was elected to Dáil Éireann in the November 1967 Limerick West by-election as a Fianna Fáil candidate. The by-election was caused by the death of his father, James Collins. The Arms Crisis of 1970 saw him being appointed to the Cabinet for the first time as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs under Jack Lynch. During his tenure as Minister he introduced a controversial law which prohibited organisations committed to violence from making media broadcasts. In 1972 he sacked the entire RTÉ authority because he felt that they disobeyed this order.
Between 1977 and 1981 Collins served as Minister for Justice. In March 1982 he became Minister for Foreign Affairs. He held this post until December 1982 when Fianna Fáil lost power. When Charles Haughey returned as Taoiseach in 1987 Collins was appointed Minister for Justice again. After the 1989 election Collins replaced Brian Lenihan as Minister for Foreign Affairs. From January to June 1990 he served as President of the European Community Council of Ministers.
In 1991 Collins made a tearful plea to Albert Reynolds on national television asking him not to challenge Charles Haughey for the leadership of the Fianna Fáil party: "This is going to wreck our party right down the centre and it's going to burst up government". The incident was infamously parodied by Dermot Morgan later that year. When Reynolds eventually became leader in 1992 Collins was one of many high profile Ministers to lose his Cabinet post. In 1994 he was elected a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Munster constituency. He retired from domestic politics at the 1997 general election, being replaced by his brother, Michael J. Collins. Collins was re-elected to the European Parliament in 1999, but lost his bid for another term in the 2004 European Parliament elections. Subsequent to this defeat, he announced his retirement from politics.
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