The Labour Party has always had a scepticism about its leaders, whoever they may be. At Fianna Fail and Fine Gael ardfheiseanna every year, a party stalwart makes a rousing warm-up speech before the leader arrives on stage to deafening cheers and applause.
In Labour it was always more restrained. Older members recall the warm-up speaker for Michael O'Leary pleading with conference that the leader be given "a fair hearing". Mr Spring commanded more enthusiasm than that even in his early years, but at most conferences there was a significant section of the party giving him polite applause rather than a tumultuous ovation.
In Limerick last April, however, Dick Spring had a unanimously enthusiastic reception. He was presiding over a party in trouble in the polls, he was making an announcement a considerable section did not approve of (that there would be no post-election coalition with Fianna Fail), yet there was no personal criticism or dissent.
Dick Spring has earned respect from all sections of his party during his 15 years as leader, and the factions within the party have dissipated during his stewardship. Even yesterday, members of his parliamentary party said that if he wants to stay, nobody will stop him.
In the mid to late 1980s he was the leader of an embattled leadership faction against a growing disaffected grouping that centred on the Labour Left organisation. At the weekend the effective leader of the then disaffected faction, Mr Emmet Stagg, said Mr Spring could stay in his post for as long as he wanted.
He has earned the respect of all but not necessarily their affection, with many seeing him as arrogant and aloof. Some Dublin deputies such as Pat Upton, Roisin Shortall and Tommy Broughan have openly criticised his leadership style. Others say they find the prospect of saying anything that could be interpreted as criticism of the leader intimidating.
He is prickly and short-tempered at times and has a suspicion and hostility to journalists that he has learned to control, but not fully disguise. His defenders say the problem is simply that he doesn't suffer fools gladly, but his definition of fools appears broad.
While respected, he never had total control of the party, particularly in Dublin. This was most graphically illustrated when Orla Guerin, despite Mr Spring's enthusiastic support, failed to be nominated by the Dublin membership to run for the European Parliament.
The damage was compounded when she was added to the party ticket by the leadership but lost out to Bernie Malone, who had won the convention. The respect was never unquestioning - in the Labour Party it always had to be earned.
Yet is is a mark of the respect with which he is held that despite a dreadful general election performance and a worse presidential election showing, there is no clamour for him to quit. A handful of deputies would be glad to see him go, but most contacted yesterday said they would prefer to change the leader's style. They dislike his distrust of some within the party, a reliance on close, trusted advisers and a characteristic variously described as aloofness and arrogance.
His initial period as leader, however, helped develop these characteristics. As a 32-year-old party leader and Tanaiste, he quickly found himself fighting two major political battles. Within government, he fought against Fine Gael ministers - and in particular John Bruton - to try to ensure a Labour Party stamp on the government's policy programme. Simultaneously, he defended his leadership against vocal internal criticism from those in Labour who believed the party should pull out of government as it was losing its identity.
The fight with Fine Gael ended as Labour walked out of government. The internal struggle continued as Mr Spring held on to his North Kerry seat by four votes. It took him two years before he saw off his challengers internally. By that stage mistrust of some in the party and reliance on his own advisers had been not just a way of live for seven years, but the means of survival.
However, once firmly in control of his party, Mr Spring's reputation rose and rose over the next three years. From the first day the Dail met after the 1989 general election Dick Spring set about establishing himself as the real leader of the Opposition.
It was he - not the Fine Gael leader Alan Dukes - who recognised that Charles Haughey should not remain on as Taoiseach after he had lost the vote for Taoiseach in the Dail. He proposed the suspension of meetings of the Anglo-Irish Conference, which helped talks to begin in Northern Ireland. He outmanoeuvred and outshone Fine Gael in revealing and then opposing the government's plan not to reappoint the Ombudsman Michael Mills, and he led the Opposition to the government's broadcasting Bill.
But his greatest impact was in his contributions on the Goodman affair in which he incessantly harried the government. He led the debate on the X case and the abortion referendums.
Electorally the party was on the up as well. His selection of Mrs Mary Robinson as the party's presidential candidate proved inspired. The party made considerable gains in the 1991 local authority elections, increasing its vote from 6.5 per cent to 11.4 per cent. In the process the party laid the groundwork for the spectacular 1992 winning of 33 Dail seats.
It is wrong to see the 1992 success as solely the result of a fickle electorate swinging to Dick Spring, political flavour of the month. Most of the new Dublin deputies were poised to take Dail seats anyway, due to solid constituency work and local authority victories the previous year. What the "Spring Tide" did was to ensure than instead of scraping home with the last seat in their constituencies, they topped the poll.
That 1992 success was the end of Mr Spring's rise to the position of most popular politician. Since then his own personal popularity has waned, the word "arrogant" has been associated with him more and more and his party has never since gained the level of support it received then.
Ironically, the 1992-1997 period was Mr Spring's and Labour's best period in government. Mr Spring earned a serious international reputation as minister for foreign affairs and in particular as chairman of the EU's General Affairs Council during the Irish EU Presidency in the second half of last year.
Labour ministers implemented a huge amount of Labour-inspired legislation, completing the "liberal agenda" through the introduction of divorce and other family legislation and being the driving force in terms of government policy.
Yet this did not bring any greater glory to Dick Spring and his party. His decision in 1992 to spurn coalition with the John Bruton-led Fine Gael Party and instead to go into government with Fianna Fail received considerable media criticism - and many voters who had supported Labour as an anti-Fianna Fail vote felt cheated.
Mr Spring's standing in the party was such that he could have proposed almost anything and the members would have gone along with it. However, his public image as "arrogant" was enhanced, and enhanced further when in December 1994 he led his party out of government with Fianna Fail and in with Fine Gael and Democratic Left.
Despite the party's slide in the polls, Mr Spring's authority remained. Last April he was confident enough to rule out a postelection coalition with Fianna Fail without asking the parliamentary party or the conference to decide. Even after the recent electoral disasters, he would easily survive a vote of confidence in the parliamentary party.
There are at least two ambitions Mr Spring is believed to have at the moment, although they are incompatible in the short term. During his time in foreign affairs Mr Spring developed a keen interest in the international agenda, and is believed to have an ambition to hold an international post.
However, asked six months ago if he would be interested in the EU Commissionership, he said: "I want to spend more time in Kerry, not in Brussels".
This is his second ambition. He frequently and for many years has spoken of the toll Dublin-based public life takes on his Kerrybased family life. In 1984 he told an interviewer: "If I can't accommodate my family life better somehow, well, I'll just have to reconsider the whole thing." Thirteen years on, he may just be doing that.