Dick Spring

Dick Spring is a member of Dáil Éireann (Irish Parliament) and has been since 1981. From 1982 to 1997 he was Leader of the Irish Labour Party and served as Deputy Prime Minister in three Coalition Governments - 1982-87; 1993-94; 1994-97. He also held ministerial office in Justice, Energy, Environment and Foreign Affairs.

Dick Spring was educated at Trinity College Dublin and King's Inns, Dublin, and is a lawyer. Dick Spring is chairman and non-executive director of a number of companies and is International Counsel to the Washington/Boston law firm, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris Glovsky and Popeo.

He was centrally involved in the negotiation of the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 and the Downing Street Declaration of 1993. He co-chaired the British-Irish Inter-Governmental Conference in 1993-97. At their inception, Dick Spring led the Irish delegation to the All-Party Talks in Belfast, which culminated in the Good Friday Agreement. As Foreign Minister, he represented Ireland at the General Council of the EU, a body he chaired during Ireland's Presidency in 1996. He also chaired the European Council of Energy Ministers in 1984. As well as addressing the General Assembly of the UN on a number of occasions, Dick Spring led EU Troikas to the former Yugoslavia, Russian Federation; ASEAN Regional Forum; EU-SADAC; the Middle East; and the EU Gulf Co-operation Council.

He is a Fellow of the Salzburg Seminar; an Associate Fellow of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard; and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations Taskforce on Palestine.