Editing Dick Spring (section)

===Early career===
Spring's political life began when he successfully contested the [[1979 Kerry County Council election]] for the [[county electoral area]] of [[Tralee]], succeeding his father Dan Spring TD on [[Kerry County Council]] that year. Spring senior had been a TD for [[Kerry North (Dáil constituency)|Kerry North]] since 1943, mostly representing Labour, but he was a member of the [[National Labour Party (Ireland)|National Labour Party]] from 1944 to 1950.

He was first elected to [[Dáil Éireann]] in the [[1981 Irish general election|1981 general election]] for the constituency of Kerry North, again succeeding his father.<ref name=elecs_irl>{{cite web|url=http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=3357|title=Dick Spring|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=24 September 2010|archive-date=21 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221170053/http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=3357|url-status=live}}</ref> The Labour Party formed a coalition Government with [[Fine Gael]] and Spring was appointed a [[Minister of State (Ireland)|junior minister]] on his [[Records of members of the Oireachtas#People appointed as Minister of State at the start of their first term as TD|first day as a TD]].