Dick Spring (born 29 August 1950) is an Irish businessman and former politician. He was a
Labour Party Teachta Dála
A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms such as ''Member of Parl ...
(TD) for the
Kerry North from 1981 to 2002. He became leader of the Labour Party in 1982, and held this position until 1997. He served as
Minister for the Environment (1982–83),
Minister for Energy (1983–87) and
Minister for Foreign Affairs (1993–Nov. 1994, Dec. 1994–97).
He served as
Tánaiste
The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Tao ...
during those three governments.
Prior to his political career Spring was a successful sportsman who played for the
Ireland national rugby union team
The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual Six Nations Champi ...
and the
Kerry GAA football and hurling teams.
Early life
Spring was born in
Tralee,
County Kerry
County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...
in 1950, the son of
Dan
Dan or DAN may refer to:
People
* Dan (name), including a list of people with the name
** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark
* Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa
**Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...
and Anna Spring (née Laide). He was educated at
Cistercian College in
Roscrea,
County Tipperary
County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after ...
, and at
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
, and qualified as a barrister at
King's Inns
The Honorable Society of King's Inns ( ir, Cumann Onórach Óstaí an Rí) is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environment ...
. He is a descendant of the
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...
Spring family that settled in County Kerry in the late 16th century.
Sporting career
Spring played
Gaelic football
Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by ki ...
and
hurling
Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...
for
Kerry during the 1970s. He played his club football with the
Kerins O'Rahilly's
Kerins O'Rahilly's are a Gaelic Athletic Association club from Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland. They are based in the Strand Road area of the town. They are in Division 1 of the county league which they won in 2006, and compete in the County Cham ...
club in
Tralee and hurling with
Crotta O'Neill's
Crotta O'Neill's are a hurling club in the Kilflynn area of County Kerry, Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to ...
, he also played underage hurling with Austin Stacks and won a minor county championship in 1967. His father
Dan
Dan or DAN may refer to:
People
* Dan (name), including a list of people with the name
** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark
* Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa
**Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...
won two
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...
s in
1939
This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 1
** Third Reich
*** Jews are forbidden to ...
and
1940.
He then won
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
caps for
Munster
Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following t ...
, and lined out for
London Irish
London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. Whil ...
in the UK. He also was capped for
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
three times during the
1979 Five Nations Championship
The 1979 Five Nations Championship was the fiftieth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the eighty-fifth series of the northern hemisphere rugby un ...
, debuting against on 20 January 1979 at
Lansdowne Road, and receiving his last international cap on 17 February 1979 against at
Lansdowne Road.
Political career
Early career
Spring's political life began in 1979, when he successfully contested the local elections in Tralee. He replaced his father Dan Spring TD on
Kerry County Council
Kerry County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Chiarraí) is the authority responsible for local government in County Kerry, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing a ...
that year. Spring senior had been a TD for
Kerry North since 1943, mostly representing Labour, but he was briefly a member of
National Labour.
He was first elected to
Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland rea ...
in the
general election of 1981 for the constituency of Kerry North, the seat previously held by his father Dan.
The Labour Party formed a coalition Government with
Fine Gael
Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil É ...
and Spring was appointed a
junior minister on his first day as a Deputy. 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 easily 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
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...
activists from the party. Most notably he expelled the Militant Tendency (later
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of ...
), including
Joe Higgins and
Clare Daly.
Ministerial appointment
Following the
November 1982 general election Labour again formed a coalition government with Fine Gael. Spring was appointed
Tánaiste
The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Tao ...
and
Minister for the Environment. He was closely involved in the negotiations which led to the
Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985. In 1987, the Labour Party withdrew from the government on budgetary issues, and
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
took power in the subsequent election. Spring himself narrowly escaped losing his seat when he was re-elected by just four votes.
Opposition
Under Spring, the Labour Party selected
Mary Robinson
Mary Therese Winifred Robinson ( ga, Máire Mhic Róibín; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who was the 7th president of Ireland, serving from December 1990 to September 1997, the first woman to hold this office. Prior to her electi ...
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 a number of business scandals and gave him the opportunity to shine as a critic of the Fianna Fáil government, led by the controversial
Charles Haughey.
"Spring Tide" and return to power
As a result, in the
1992 general election the party increased its number of Dáil seats from 15 to 33, at the time its largest-ever number, an event which is referred to as the "Spring Tide". After the election, no government could be appointed when the new Dáil met. After some weeks of stalemate, Spring decided to enter negotiations with
Albert Reynolds
Albert Martin Reynolds (3 November 1932 – 21 August 2014) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1992 to 1994, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1992 to 1994, Minister for Finance from 1988 to 1991, Minister for Indust ...
—who had taken over as
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the of ...
from Haughey at the beginning of the year—over the Christmas period on a new programme for government. The Labour Party then entered a coalition government with Fianna Fáil, and thus returned Reynolds to power. Spring was appointed Tánaiste for the second time, and also
Minister for Foreign Affairs. 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.
Labour took six of the fifteen cabinet ministries and had much of its election manifesto accepted by Fianna Fáil. New Departments of Equality and Law Reform, and of Arts and Culture, were established. 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 at Labour for going into government with Fianna Fáil. In 1994 the Labour Party performed disastrously in two 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. Clearly Labour was not doing well electorally, and needed to assess its role in the coalition.
In late 1994, Reynolds wished to appoint the
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
,
Harry Whelehan
Harry Whelehan (born 17 February 1944) is an Irish barrister and judge who served as President of the High Court from 15 November 1994 to 17 November 1994, a Judge of the High Court from November 1994 to December 1994 and Attorney General of I ...
, 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, his failure to communicate his reservations, and decided to proceed anyway, whilst calling Spring's bluff. Spring withdrew with his ministers from the cabinet meeting which proceeded to recommend Mr Whelehan's appointment to the President. Immediately afterward, Reynolds implemented the decision.
There followed a rather heated discussion in the Dáil, concerning the appointment. Fine Gael started asking 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 were instructing Reynolds to appoint Whelehan. Reynolds became irate with this allegation, and responded angrily. Reynolds now realised that Spring was uncompromising about Whelehan. In an effort 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 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' new successor,
Bertie Ahern
Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008, Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997, Tánaiste a ...
, the
Minister for Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
. They agreed to reform the Fianna Fáil-Labour Government in early December. On the eve of that government being formed, ''
The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' 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 of that year, Labour together with Fine Gael 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
John Gerard Bruton (born 18 May 1947) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 1994 to 1997, Ambassador of the European Union to the United States from 2004 to 2009, Leader of Fine Gael from 1990 to 2001, Leader ...
the Taoiseach,
Ruairi Quinn
Ruairi Quinn (born 2 April 1946) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Education and Skills from 2011 to 2014, Leader of the Labour Party from 1997 to 2002, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1989 to 1997, ...
of Labour became the first-ever Labour Minister for Finance.
During his period as Foreign Minister, Spring along with Reynolds was involved in negotiations leading to the
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...
and
loyalist
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...
ceasefires of 1994 and the
Good Friday Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...
of 1998. With Albert Reynolds, he received warm applause in the Dáil on the announcement of the
Downing Street Declaration
Downing may refer to:
Places
* Downing, Missouri, US, a city
* Downing, Wisconsin, US, a village
* Downing Park (Newburgh, New York), US, a public park
* Downing, Flintshire, Wales
Buildings
* Downing Centre, Sydney, New South Wales, Austral ...
in December 1993. He also advanced Ireland's membership of the
Partnership for Peace
The Partnership for Peace (PfP; french: Partenariat pour la paix) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) program aimed at creating trust between the member states of NATO and other states mostly in Europe, including post-Soviet states; ...
, a sister organization of
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
a controversial issue due to Ireland's policy of
neutrality.
Resignation as party leader and defeat as TD
In the
1997 general election the Labour Party returned to opposition, winning only 17 of its outgoing 33 seats. This was considered by some to be a punishment by the electorate for the 1993 decision to enter coalition with Fianna Fáil. By others, it was considered a punishment for changing horses at the end of 1994, in order to remain in power. A front-page article in the ''
Irish Independent
The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis.
The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines.
Traditionally a broadsheet new ...
'' on the day prior to 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 ''Independents 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 of Ireland.
He remained a TD, being appointed a director in the formerly state owned recently privatized telecommunications company
Eircom
Eircom Limited, trading as Eir ( ; stylised eir), is a large fixed, mobile and broadband telecommunications company in Ireland. The now privatised company, which is currently incorporated in Jersey, traces its origins to the Ireland's former ...
in 1999. Its initial flotation led to a stock market bubble which affected a large number of small shareholders. It was later revealed that he did not purchase shares in the company.
Spring lost his seat in a shock result at the
2002 general election. 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
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...
. Spring devoted considerable energy and resources towards increasing Ireland's international influence and diplomatic ties in UN, in the post
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
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.
Critics of Dick Spring have described him as a
champagne socialist
Champagne socialist is a political term commonly used in the United Kingdom. It is a popular epithet that implies a degree of hypocrisy, and it is closely related to the concept of the liberal elite. The phrase is used to describe self-identifi ...
, owing to his choice of the
Waldorf Astoria Hotel Waldorf can have the following meanings:
People
* William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor (1848–1919), financier and statesman
* Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor (1879–1952), businessman and politician
* Pappy Waldorf (1902–1981), 1966 ...
when staying in New York as Foreign Minister, instead of staying in the then Irish-owned Fitzpatrick Hotel.
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.
Subsequent life
Spring later became involved in the
Cyprus dispute
The Cyprus problem, also known as the Cyprus dispute, Cyprus issue, Cyprus question or Cyprus conflict, is an ongoing dispute between Greek Cypriots in the south and Turkish Cypriots in the north. Initially, with the Modern history of Cyprus#In ...
as a
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
envoy.
Spring received a directorship appointment to the Irish state telecom enterprise,
Eircom
Eircom Limited, trading as Eir ( ; stylised eir), is a large fixed, mobile and broadband telecommunications company in Ireland. The now privatised company, which is currently incorporated in Jersey, traces its origins to the Ireland's former ...
, 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, was openly described as 'scandalous', by shareholder advocate Senator
Shane Ross
Shane Peter Nathaniel Ross (born 11 July 1949) is a former Irish Independent politician who served as Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport from May 2016 to June 2020. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Rathdown constituency from 2 ...
. He continues to hold a directorship, with the Financial Services firm
FEXCO
Fexco is an Ireland-based financial services and financial technology company focusing on bureau de change and payment card services. Its head office is located in Killorglin, County Kerry. As of 2019, Fexco reports it has more than 2,500 staf ...
, based in
Killorglin
Killorglin () is a town in County Kerry, Ireland. As of the 2016 CSO census, the town's population was 2,199. Killorglin is on the Ring of Kerry tourist route, and annual events include the August Puck Fair festival, which starts with the crown ...
, County Kerry.
Spring lives in Tralee with his wife Kristi (), an American whom he met while working in New York as a bartender. They have three children. His nephew
Arthur Spring
Arthur Spring (born 5 July 1976) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Kerry North–West Limerick constituency from 2011 to 2016.
He is a nephew of Dick Spring, a former TD for Kerry North and ...
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
Kerry County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Chiarraí) is the authority responsible for local government in County Kerry, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing a ...
. Spring is a member of Ballybunion Golf Club, and has invited former
U.S. President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
, amongst others, to visit there.
He is a director of
Allied Irish Bank
Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. is one of the so-called Big Four commercial banks in Ireland. AIB offers a full range of personal, business and corporate banking services. The bank also offers a range of general insurance products such as home, trav ...
and receives annual pension payments of €121,108.
See also
*
Families in the Oireachtas
There is a tradition in Irish politics of having family members succeed each other, frequently in the same parliamentary seat. This article lists families where two or more members of that family have been members ( TD or Senator) of either of th ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spring, Dick
1950 births
Living people
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
Austin Stacks hurlers
Crotta O'Neill's hurlers
Dual players
Gaelic footballers who switched code
Ireland international rugby union players
Irish businesspeople
Irish rugby union players
Irish people of Norman descent
Irish sportsperson-politicians
Kerins O'Rahilly's Gaelic footballers
Kerry inter-county Gaelic footballers
Kerry inter-county hurlers
Labour Party (Ireland) TDs
Lansdowne Football Club players
Leaders of the Labour Party (Ireland)
Local councillors in County Kerry
London Irish players
Members of the 22nd Dáil
Members of the 23rd Dáil
Members of the 24th Dáil
Members of the 25th Dáil
Members of the 26th Dáil
Members of the 27th Dáil
Members of the 28th Dáil
Ministers for the Environment (Ireland)
Ministers for Foreign Affairs (Ireland)
Ministers of State of the 22nd Dáil
Munster Rugby players
People educated at Cistercian College, Roscrea
People from Tralee
Politicians from County Kerry
Rugby union fullbacks
Tánaistí
Alumni of King's Inns