When Michael O'Leary resigned as party leader after the February 1982 general election, Spring allowed his name to go forward in the leadership contest. He defeated Barry Desmond and Michael D. Higgins, but inherited the leadership of a deeply divided party. Spring was a strong opponent of anti-coalition politics and systematically removed Trotskyist activists from the party. Most notably he expelled the Militant Tendency in 1989 (which later became Socialist Party), including Joe Higgins and Clare Daly.
Tánaiste (1982–1987)
Following the November 1982 general election Labour again formed a coalition government with Fine Gael. Spring was appointed Tánaiste and Minister for the Environment. In a reshuffle following the resignation from cabinet of former Labour leader Frank Cluskey in December 1983, Spring was appointed as Minister for Energy.[6] He was closely involved in the negotiations which led to the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985. In January 1987, the Labour Party withdrew from the government on budgetary issues. At the 1987 general election, Spring narrowly escaped losing his seat when he was re-elected by just four votes. Fianna Fáil took office in a minority government after the election.
Opposition
The Labour Party selected Mary Robinson as its candidate in the 1990 presidential election. 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 by Charles Haughey.
In the 1992 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". After the election, no government was formed when the 27th Dáil met. After some weeks of stalemate, Spring entered negotiations with Albert Reynolds—who had taken over as Taoiseach 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's National 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 as Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Labour took six of the fifteen cabinet ministries and had much of its election manifesto accepted by Fianna Fáil. Labour ministers led the new Departments of Equality and Law Reform and the reformed of Arts and Culture. Ethics legislation was to outlaw conflicts of interest. Male homosexual acts were to be decriminalised. Purchase of condoms without medical prescription was to be allowed. An extensive programme of family law reform and provision for a divorce referendum was to be undertaken. 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.[citation needed] In June 1994, the Labour Party performed disastrously in by-elections in Dublin South-Central and in Cork North-Central. In both cases, the seats were won by Democratic Left. 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 the Attorney General, Harry Whelehan, as President of the High Court, but delayed for over a month. Spring had reservations about Whelehan being suitable, owing to the alleged laxity of his handling of a particular child abuse criminal case, involving a disgraced Catholic priest. 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 TD Pat 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, the Minister 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 the Rainbow 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 making John Bruton the Taoiseach, Ruairi Quinn of Labour became the first-ever Labour Minister for Finance.
In the 1997 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 the Irish 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. The Independent 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 the Independent's owner Anthony 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 the presidential 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 privatized telecommunications company Eircom in 1999. Its initial flotation led to a stock market bubble which affected a large number of small shareholders.[7] It was later revealed that he did not purchase shares in the company.[8]
Spring lost his seat in a shock result at the 2002 general election.[9] He has not sought political office since.
Political legacy
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 Minister John Major. Spring devoted considerable energy and resources towards increasing Ireland's international influence and diplomatic ties in the UN, in the post Cold 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.[10]
Critics of Dick Spring have described him as a champagne socialist, owing to his choice of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel when staying in New York as Foreign Minister, instead of staying in the then Irish-owned Fitzpatrick Hotel.[11] 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 received a directorship appointment to the Irish state telecom enterprise, Eircom, in advance of the scheduled privatisation. As leader of a left-of-centre party, this was to endorse the privatization 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. Spring became the target for much of the discontent. Spring's low work involvement, and generous remuneration package, were openly described as 'scandalous', by shareholder advocate Senator Shane Ross. He continues to hold a directorship, with the Financial Services firm FEXCO, based in Killorglin, County Kerry.
Spring lives in Tralee with his wife Kristi (née Hutcheson), an American whom he met while working in New York as a bartender. They have three children. His nephew Arthur Spring was a Labour Party TD for Kerry North–West Limerick until March 2016, having first been a councillor for the Tralee electoral area of Kerry County Council. Spring is a member of Ballybunion Golf Club, and has invited former U.S. PresidentBill Clinton, amongst others, to visit there.
He is a director of Allied Irish Bank and receives annual pension payments of €121,108.[12]
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