His grandfather had served with the Royal Engineers in World War I and settled in Cork and then Kerry afterwards where he worked with the Post Office creating Ireland's telephone network.

He was educated by the Christian Brothers at Coláiste Mhuire, Dublin, and was offered several scholarships for third level on graduation, including one for the Irish language.

He had strong support among the farming community, but the entry of T. J. Maher, a former president of the IFA, as an independent candidate hurt his chances of election.

This minority Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition government collapsed in February 1982 on the budget,[5] but returned to power with a working majority in December 1982.

The challenge of addressing the national finances was made difficult by electoral arithmetic and a lack of support from the opposition Fianna Fáil party led by Charles Haughey.

Haughey's Fianna Fáil had fought the election on promises to increase spending and government services, and by attacking the cutbacks favoured by Fine Gael.

The campaign produced the famous Fianna Fáil slogan that cuts in health spending affect the "old, the sick and the handicapped".

However, on taking office, the new Taoiseach and his finance minister Ray MacSharry immediately drew up a set of cutbacks including a spate of ward and hospital closures.

The Haughey government was able to take severe corrective steps to restructure the economy and lay the foundations for the economic boom of the nineties.

However, after several controversies arose, relating to the brief Fianna Fáil administration of 1982, and Lenihan's dismissal as Minister for Defence midway through the campaign, the Labour Party's Mary Robinson emerged victorious.

In February 1994, Dukes became involved in a failed attempt to oust Bruton as leader and subsequently resigned from the front bench.

At the 1997 general election, Dukes topped the poll in the new Kildare South constituency, but Fine Gael lost office.

From 2001 to 2011, Dukes was President of the Alliance Française in Dublin, and in June 2004, the French Government appointed him an Officer of the Legion of Honour.

[6] In December 2008, he was appointed by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan Jnr as a public interest director on the board of Anglo Irish Bank.

[6][8] In 2011, Dukes founded the think tank Asia Matters, which inked an agreement with the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries in May 2019.