Editing Dick Spring (section)

===Resignation as party leader and defeat as TD===
In the [[1997 Irish general election|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 [[1997 Irish presidential election|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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.rte.ie/news/2000/0913/8894-eircom/|title=Eircom Directors heavily criticised by shareholders|work=RTÉ|access-date=24 April 2012|date=13 September 2000|archive-date=12 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110312091950/http://www.rte.ie/news/2000/0913/eircom.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It was later revealed that he did not purchase shares in the company.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/spring-has-yet-to-invest-in-eircom-shares-516181.html | work=Irish Independent | title=Spring has yet to invest in Eircom shares | date=24 September 2000}}</ref>

Spring lost his seat in a shock result at the [[2002 Irish general election|2002 general election]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Dick Spring: 'I don't want to sound like I'm lecturing or hectoring young people' |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/people/2023/12/17/dick-spring-i-dont-want-to-sound-like-im-lecturing-or-hectoring-young-people/ |access-date=2023-12-17 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}</ref> He has not sought political office since.