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Dick Spring | |
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.jpg) Spring in 1995 | |
| Tánaiste | |
| In office 15 December 1994 – 26 June 1997 | |
| Taoiseach | John Bruton |
| Preceded by | Bertie Ahern |
| Succeeded by | Mary Harney |
| In office 12 January 1993 – 17 November 1994 | |
| Taoiseach | Albert Reynolds |
| Preceded by | John Wilson |
| Succeeded by | Bertie Ahern |
| In office 14 December 1982 – 20 January 1987 | |
| Taoiseach | Garret FitzGerald |
| Preceded by | Ray MacSharry |
| Succeeded by | Peter Barry |
| Minister for Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 15 December 1994 – 26 June 1997 | |
| Taoiseach | John Bruton |
| Preceded by | Albert Reynolds |
| Succeeded by | Ray Burke |
| In office 12 January 1993 – 17 November 1994 | |
| Taoiseach | Albert Reynolds |
| Preceded by | David Andrews |
| Succeeded by | Albert Reynolds |
| Leader of the Labour Party | |
| In office 1 November 1982 – 13 November 1997 | |
| Deputy | |
| Preceded by | Michael O'Leary |
| Succeeded by | Ruairi Quinn |
| Minister for the Environment | |
| In office 14 December 1982 – 13 December 1983 | |
| Taoiseach | Garret FitzGerald |
| Preceded by | Ray Burke |
| Succeeded by | Liam Kavanagh |
| Minister of State | |
| 1981–1982 | Justice |
| Teachta Dála | |
| In office June 1981 – May 2002 | |
| Constituency | Kerry North |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Richard Martin Spring (1950-08-29)29 August 1950 (age 75) Tralee,County Kerry, Ireland |
| Party | Labour Party |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent |
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| Relatives |
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| Education | Cistercian College, Roscrea |
| Alma mater | |
Richard Martin Spring (born 29 August 1950) is an Irish formerLabour Party politician who served asTánaiste from 1982 to 1987, 1992 to November 1994, and December 1994 to 1997,Leader of the Labour Party from 1982 to 1997,Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1993 to November 1994 and December 1994 to 1997,Minister for Energy from 1983 to 1987, andMinister for the Environment from 1982 to 1983. He was aTeachta Dála (TD) forKerry North from 1981 to 2002.[1]
Before his political career, Spring was a successful sportsman who played for theIreland national rugby union team and theKerry GAA football and hurling teams.
Spring was born inTralee,County Kerry in 1950,[2] the son ofDan and Anna Spring (née Laide).[3] He was educated atCistercian College inRoscrea,County Tipperary, and atTrinity College Dublin, and qualified as a barrister at theKing's Inns.[4][5] He is a descendant of theAnglo-IrishSpring family that settled in County Kerry in the late 16th century.[6]
Spring playedGaelic football andhurling forKerry during the 1970s.[7] He played his club football with theKerins O'Rahilly's club inTralee and hurling withCrotta O'Neill's;[8][9] he also played underage hurling withAustin Stacks and won a minor county championship in 1967.[10] His fatherDan won twoAll-Ireland Senior Football Championships in1939 and1940.[11]
He then wonrugby union caps forMunster, and lined out forLondon Irish in the UK.[5] He also was capped forIreland three times during the1979 Five Nations Championship,[12] earning his first cap againstFrance on 20 January 1979 atLansdowne Road,[13] and receiving his last international cap on 17 February 1979 againstEngland atLansdowne Road.[14]
Spring's political life began when he successfully contested the1979 Kerry County Council election for thecounty electoral area ofTralee, succeeding his father Dan Spring TD onKerry County Council that year. Spring senior had been a TD forKerry North since 1943, mostly representing Labour, but he was a member of theNational Labour Party from 1944 to 1950.[15]
He was first elected toDáil Éireann in the1981 general election for the constituency of Kerry North, again succeeding his father.[15][16] The Labour Party formed a coalition Government withFine Gael and Spring was appointed ajunior minister on hisfirst day as a TD.[17] In December 1981 Spring was involved in a car crash nearNenagh,County Tipperary that killed James Curran and left Spring with a lasting back injury.[18] While in recovery, Spring appeared in the Dáil on astretcher to vote, having been denied apair.[19]
WhenMichael O'Leary resigned as party leader after theFebruary 1982 general election, Spring allowed his name to go forward in the leadership contest. He defeatedBarry Desmond andMichael D. Higgins, but inherited the leadership of a deeply divided party.[20][2] Spring was a strong opponent of anti-coalition politics and systematically removedTrotskyist activists from the party. Most notably he expelled the Militant Tendency in 1989 (which later becameSocialist Party), includingJoe Higgins andClare Daly.[21][22]
Following theNovember 1982 general election Labour again formed a coalition government with Fine Gael. Spring was appointedTánaiste andMinister for the Environment.[2] In a reshuffle following the resignation from cabinet of former Labour leaderFrank Cluskey in December 1983, Spring was appointed asMinister for Energy.[23] He was closely involved in the negotiations which led to theAnglo-Irish Agreement in 1985.[24] In January 1987, the Labour Party withdrew from the government on budgetary issues.[25] At the1987 general election, Spring narrowly escaped losing his seat when he was re-elected by just four votes.[26]Fianna Fáil took office in a minority government after the election.[27]
The Labour Party selectedMary Robinson as its candidate in the1990 presidential election.[28] Robinson was elected, and this success enhanced the credibility of his leadership of the party. For Spring, his period in opposition coincided with the exposure of several business scandals and allowed him to shine as a critic of the Fianna Fáil government, led byCharles Haughey.
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In the1992 general election the party increased its number of Dáil seats from 15 to 33, its largest number of seats to that point, an achievement dubbed the "Spring Tide".[29][30] After the election, no government was formed when the27th Dáil met.[31] After some weeks of stalemate, Spring entered negotiations withAlbert Reynolds—who had taken over asTaoiseach from Haughey in February 1992—over the Christmas period on a new programme for government. This was approved by a special party conference of over 1,000 delegates at Dublin'sNational Concert Hall in January 1993, though there were some Labour Party TDs who dissented from the leadership position and wanted a coalition with Fine Gael. The Labour Party entered a coalition government with Fianna Fáil and thus returned Reynolds to power. Spring was appointed Tánaiste for the second time, and also asMinister for Foreign Affairs.
Labour took six of the fifteen cabinet ministries and had much of its election manifesto accepted by Fianna Fáil.[20] Labour ministers led the newDepartments of Equality and Law Reform and the reformed ofArts and Culture.[32][33] Ethics legislation was to outlaw conflicts of interest.[34] Male homosexual actswere to be decriminalised.[35] The age restriction on thepurchase of condoms was removed and condoms were permitted to be sold in vending machines.[36][37] An extensive programme of family law reform and a commitment to adivorce referendum was to be undertaken.[38] Spring insisted on a formalised system of programme managers, and state-paid advisers to push the new government's policy platform.
However support for the Labour Party declined, particularly as many voters felt betrayed by Labour for going into government with Fianna Fáil.[39][40] In June 1994, the Labour Party performed disastrously in by-elections inDublin South-Central and inCork North-Central.[41][39] In both cases, the seats were won byDemocratic Left.[39][42] This had grave implications for the electoral health of the party and therefore for the policy of the Labour leadership.
In late 1994, Reynolds wished to appoint theAttorney General,Harry Whelehan, as President of theHigh Court, but delayed for over a month. Spring had reservations about Whelehan being suitable, owing to the alleged laxity of his handling of an extradition request for disgraced Catholic priest and sex offender,Brendan Smyth.[43] Reynolds for his part could not understand why Spring was against Whelehan being nominated to the High Court, and yet had no concerns with Whelehan serving as Attorney General. Reynolds became annoyed with Spring's stance, and his failure to communicate his reservations, and decided to proceed anyway, whilst calling Spring's bluff. Spring and the other Labour ministers withdrew from the cabinet meeting which proceeded to recommend Whelehan's appointment to the President. Immediately afterwards, Reynolds implemented the decision.
There followed a rather heated discussion in the Dáil, concerning the appointment. Fine Gael asked questions about Whelehan's suitability and objectivity. This was supportive of Spring's position. Democratic Left TDPat Rabbitte then implied that the Catholic hierarchy was instructing Reynolds to appoint Whelehan. Reynolds became irate with this allegation and responded angrily. Reynolds now realised that Spring was uncompromising about Whelehan. To remain in government, Reynolds removed Whelehan; however, Spring refused to go back into government with Reynolds. Whelehan served as President of the High Court for one day.
Spring proceeded to withdraw from the government. The minority Reynolds government then lost a vote of confidence in the Dáil. Reynolds resigned as party leader but continued as a caretaker Taoiseach. Spring entered into negotiations with Reynolds' successor as party,Bertie Ahern, theMinister for Finance. In early December, they agreed to reform the Fianna Fáil–Labour Government. On the eve of that government being formed,The Irish Times published a report that Ahern knew more about an aspect of the scandal that had brought down Reynolds than had previously been known. Spring broke off negotiations with Fianna Fáil, and instead pursued negotiations to form a coalition with Fine Gael and Democratic Left. In December 1994, Fine Gael, Labour and Democratic Left formed a coalition government, referred to as theRainbow Coalition, forestalling the possibility of an election. Spring returned to his positions as Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs. This was the first occasion on which a new Irish government was formed without a general election. The previous Fianna Fáil and Labour Programme for Government was substantially adopted by the new government and in return for makingJohn Bruton the Taoiseach,Ruairi Quinn of Labour became the first-ever Labour Minister for Finance.
During his period as Foreign Minister, Spring played a role in theNorthern Ireland peace process,[2] and along with Reynolds was involved in negotiations leading to theProvisional Irish Republican Army andloyalist ceasefires of 1994.[44] With Reynolds andMáire Geoghegan-Quinn, he received warm applause in the Dáil on the announcement of theDowning Street Declaration in December 1993.[45] He also advanced Ireland's membership of thePartnership for Peace, a sister organisation ofNATO, a controversial issue due to Ireland's policy ofneutrality.[46][47]
In the1997 general election the Labour Party fell to 17 seats and returned to opposition. This was considered by some to be a punishment by the electorate for the 1993 decision to enter a coalition with Fianna Fáil. By others, it was considered a punishment for changing horses at the end of 1994, to remain in power. A front-page editorial in theIrish Independent on the day before the election, entitled "Payback Time" and calling on support for Fianna Fáil, had a direct and severe impact on the Labour Party. TheIndependent newspaper group had revealed many scandals involving Labour ministers abusing the perks of office in the year leading up to the election. The article was controversial because Spring had taken decisions in office which went against the broader business interests of theIndependent's ownerAnthony O'Reilly, who was accused by Labour supporters of having attempted to use his paper's political influence to intimidate the government into favouring companies linked to O'Reilly. The impact of the article is uncertain but the Labour Party suffered significant electoral losses and the outgoing coalition was defeated. In thepresidential election of the same year the Labour Party candidate,Adi Roche, came fourth out of five candidates. Following that defeat, Spring resigned as Labour Party leader, having served 15 years — one of the longest-serving party leaders in Ireland.
He remained a TD, being appointed a director in the formerly state-owned recently privatised telecommunications companyEircom in 1999. Its initial flotation led to a stock market bubble which affected a large number of small shareholders.[48] It was later revealed that he did not purchase shares in the company.[49]
Spring lost his seat in a shock result at the2002 general election.[50] He has not sought political office since.
In Irish political circles, the role of foreign minister was considered a poisoned chalice because of the challenge of resolving the delicate problem of how to de-escalate tensions in Northern Ireland, when both sides were wary of Irish governmental policy. Albert Reynolds, and Dick Spring, placed Northern Ireland at the top of the government agenda. Both were helped considerably by the initiative of John Hume, and the understanding built up between Reynolds, and British Prime MinisterJohn Major. Spring devoted considerable energy and resources towards increasing Ireland's international influence and diplomatic ties in the UN, in the postCold War world.
As Foreign Minister, there was much critical comment in the media on Spring's extensive foreign travel. Spring got even harsher criticism, for using the Government Jet to reduce journey times between his home in Tralee and his office in Dublin. However, he did conduct, for the first time, a public consultative process that involved a wide range of citizenry and social groups as well as members of the diaspora, in the re-shaping of Irish foreign policy through the first-ever White Paper on Foreign Policy in 1996.[51]
Critics of Dick Spring have described him as achampagne socialist, owing to his choice of theWaldorf Astoria Hotel when staying in New York as Foreign Minister, instead of staying in the Irish-owned Fitzpatrick Hotel.[52] Spring brought the Irish Labour Party unprecedented exposure and power in government, at a time when the two significantly larger right-of-centre political blocs had precedence in every election.
Spring later became involved in theCyprus dispute promoting a peace.[53][54]
In May 1999 Spring received a directorship appointment to the Irish state telecom enterprise,Telecom Éireann, in advance of thescheduled privatisation.[55][56] As leader of a left-of-centre party, this was to endorse the privatisation and gain consent from the labour unions to the privatisation plan. However, the privatisation was a financial disaster for members of the public, who became ordinary shareholders in the privatisation process and faced a drop in the value of their investments.[57][58] Spring became the target for much of the discontent. Spring's low work involvement, and generous remuneration package.[59][60] SenatorShane Ross, an advocate for shareholders, criticised the privatisation for primarily benefitting directors at the expense of the public investors.[57] Spring also attracted criticism for being involved in promoting the flotation despite never buying any shares at launch.[55][61][62] Spring is currently anon-executive director with the Financial Services firmFEXCO, based inKillorglin, County Kerry.[63]
Spring lives in Tralee with his wife Kristi (née Hutcheson), an American whom he met while working in New York as a bartender.[50][20] They have three children.[50] His nephewArthur Spring was a Labour Party TD forKerry North–West Limerick untilFebruary 2016,[64][65] having first been a councillor for the Tralee electoral area ofKerry County Council.[64] Spring is a member ofBallybunion Golf Club, and has invited formerU.S. PresidentBill Clinton, amongst others, to visit there.[66][67]
He was a non-executive director ofAllied Irish Banks from 2008 to 2014.[68][69] It was reported in 2011 that he received annual pension payments of €121,108.[69]
Dan Spring won two county championship medals with his club, three All Ireland senior medals with Kerry – 1937 as a substitute and then in 1939-40.
The first-time TD who became involved in socialism and political activism as a teenager was expelled from the Labour Party along with Clare Daly, Joe Higgins, and Ruth Coppinger for his membership of the Militant tendency in 1989.
On Fianna Fáil's return to power as a minority government in March 1987...
Dick Spring was the leader of Labour for 15 years, served as tánaiste in three governments and oversaw the 'Spring tide' where the party managed to increase its Dáil seats from 15 to 33 in the 1992 general election.
For example, the 27th Dáil convened on 14 December 1992 and passed six laws while waiting a month for a government to be formed, which finally happened on 12 January 1993.
Since then, in the partnership programme for Government, a major programme for family law reform was agreed which included a commitment to hold a referendum on divorce next year.
A chunk of those voters immediately felt betrayed when Labour went into government with Fianna Fail
Think back to June 1994 ... On the same day Eric Byrne won the Dublin South Central by-election for Democratic Left.
Media related toDick Spring at Wikimedia Commons| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Minister of State at the Department of Justice 1981–1982 | Office vacant |
| Preceded by | Tánaiste 1982–1987 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for the Environment 1982–1983 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Energy 1983–1987 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Tánaiste 1993–1994 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Foreign Affairs 1993–1994 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Tánaiste 1994–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Foreign Affairs 1994–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of the Labour Party 1982–1997 | Succeeded by |
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