Last Wednesday, 73-year-old Dick Spring and his wife Kristi were finalising their preparations to travel to New Zealand, the adopted home of one of their three children. The opportunity to spend time with three grandchildren, based on the other side of the world, is a temptation too powerful to ignore. This time 30 years ago Spring was Tánaiste and the leader of the Labour Party. He was 11 months into a coalition government arrangement with an Albert Reynolds-led Fianna Fáil. Plans were being finalised for a gathering of the leaders of the British and Irish governments. The fine-tuning was continuing…

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