CONFERENCE SPEAKERS
£5K TO £10K
WIKIPEDIA
TOPICS
The Political Landscape, Transformational Leadership
SPEECH TITLES
Conflict Resolution
Ireland/ European Union
BIOGRAPHY
After an early career as a barrister and international rugby player, Dick Spring was elected to the Irish House of Representatives (the Dáil) where he served as a TD for over twenty eventful years. He quickly rose through the political ranks and went on to make a significant contribution to the Northern Ireland peace progress.
Whilst working as a barrister, Dick played Gaelic football and hurling for his home county of Kerry. He also represented Munster, London Irish, and Ireland in rugby union. Dick's father Dan was also an All-Ireland football champion, and served as a parliamentary representative for Kerry North. Like his father, Dick went on to represent the same constituency.
After his election with the Labour Party, Dick was given a junior ministerial post on his first day in the Dáil and when the party leader resigned three years later, stood as party leader. Winning the leadership of a deeply divided party, Dick set about healing the wounds, and ousting the more extreme and divisive party elements.
Forming a coalition government with Fine Gael, Dick was appointed Deputy Prime Minister (or Tánaiste) and Foreign Minister, and was responsible with the Taoiseach for negotiating the Anglo-Irish Agreement. This was an initial framework for a shared understanding between the British and Irish Governments, which led to the Joint Declaration and subsequent negotiations involving all parties in Northern Ireland.
In his five years as Foreign Minister, Dick chaired the General Council of the European Union. He also represented the EU at summits in Singapore, Jakarta and Windhoek, and addressed the United Nations General Assembly on four occasions.
Since he left office, Dick has represented the UN in negotiations over Cyprus and developed a number of business interests including directorships of Eircom and Allied Irish Bank. He lectures regularly at Harvard on conflict resolution, and speaks at conferences around the world on negotiation and communication strategies.
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Q&A
JLA: How can you bring opposing parties together?
DS: First you need to find common ground and ensure that all parties want to achieve the goals you are setting. In Northern Ireland, if people didn't want peace they weren't ready to cooperate.
JLA: Which qualities are most important in leading negotiations?
DS: Any leader should have a strong degree of humanity. To inspire trust you must talk and listen and give others the freedom to make an input.
JLA: How do you handle criticism and failure?
DS: If the team is in disarray and failing, you have the wrong team. Step back, take stock, pick a new team and instil common aims.
JLA: What is your attitude to risk?
DS: Things will go wrong, but getting things wrong is better than not doing anything at all.