IT was no more than a formality, but a pleasurable one nonetheless for Mr Dick Spring, Tanaiste Labour Party leader and former president of the EU Council of Ministers.

At a crowded convention in Connolly Hall, the SIPTU headquarters in Tralee last week, he was nominated to contest the North Kerry constituency. It is a building with strong emotional and political links - Mr Spring's late father, Dan was an ITGWU official there in the early 1940s and it was later the venue for his election rallies during his 38 years as a TD.

Mr Spring was relaxed, upbeat and assured - the latest opinion polls signalled that the Coalition was well placed to remain in office. This weekend's Labour Party conference may give the party another fillip in the polls.

Last week, before the nomination, Mr Spring confidently surveyed the mass ranks of delegates and put them on an election footing.

The Spring family is by now well used to Kerry elections. Mr Spring updated the family history.

"On an occasion like this, I cannot help but reflect on the fact that this is the 54th year in which the name Spring has appeared on the list of persons representing this constituency," he said. "I realise I have a long way to go before I catch up on my father, but I'm young yet and I plan to be around for a good few years to come."

Mr Spring might be an international statesman but he never forgets his role as TD for North Kerry. He has good reason not to. It is just over 10 years since his long day's journey into night when he held the seat by a mere four votes over the then Fianna Fail TD, Mr Tom McEllistrim, in a long and tense count. Given that he was a party leader and former Tanaiste at the time, it was a painful lesson in the unpredictability of politics. It is also one which he will never forget.

That election, in February 1987, had followed Labour's withdrawal from government with Fine Gael after four traumatic years. The economy was in difficulty. Mr Spring clashed frequently with some Fine Gael ministers (most notably, Mr John Bruton and he had to constantly watch his back from Labour's hard left who opposed coalition and wanted to take the leadership from him.

TEN years on, circumstances could hardly be more different. The economy is buoyant, the three party coalition has worked well enough to seek a renewed mandate and Mr Spring and Mr Bruton have buried their differences.

"Back in the 1980s, Mr Bruton was a deeply ideological politician, and Mr Spring was new to the leadership with little experience of government, said one Government source. Mr Bruton is now much more pragmatic, and Mr Spring is very experienced and secure as party leader. They will never be close friends, but they can work together."

The near loss of his seat was put down to the unpopularity of the outgoing government, as well as complacency about its security among voters and sections of the local organisation. The manner in which he has since secured his constituency base mirrors the way in which he has solidified his leadership of the Labour Party. In the process, he has also moulded Labour into a modern party of government, largely free of the bitter infighting of a decade and more ago.

The North Kerry Labour organisation is tightly knit and intensely loyal - the Kerry buses transporting delegates to vote faithfully for the leadership at party conferences have been a familiar sight for years - but it is also much sharper and better organised. This is particularly evident in Mr Spring's Tralee strong hold, where the party has three of the 12 urban council seats, equalling Fianna Fail's representation.

They are the Tanaiste's sister, Ms Maeve Spring, council chairwoman and also a member of Kerry County Council, Ms Miriam McGillicuddy, a solicitor in the free legal aid office, and Mr Donal Tobin, assistant branch secretary of SIPTU.

Ms Spring is a critical cog in a well oiled political machine. She is Mr Spring's constituency secretary, dealing with a never ending stream of callers and a huge volume of correspondence in the Labour office in Connolly Hall. She largely avoids media attention, but she is his eyes and ears in this volatile constituency.

Able, hardworking, intensely political and with a sharp eye to what is to the Tanaiste's benefit or detriment, she has an easy and accessible manner with constituents. Her eye is never off the ball, nor is Mr Spring's.

The Tanaiste attends to constituency business on Mondays and weekends, depending on his schedule, frequently flying in and out of Kerry airport in Farranfore. He rarely misses high profile events and occasionally deals with routine constituency matters himself. Local journalists have observed his ability to switch from talking in detail about matters of international importance to discussing at equal length a constituency issue.

North Kerry is frequently on the Spring agenda in one way or another. Routine business can sometimes be interrupted to make an announcement to the Kerry media about funding for yet another project coming on stream. If there is any rustle in the kingdom's political undergrowth which requires his attention, Ms Spring is on the line to Iveagh House.

The EU Council of Ministers' meeting in Tralee last September and the commitment he secured from President Clinton to play golf in Ballybunion, are practical examples of the local spin off from his ministerial brief.

HIS Cabinet clout is evident throughout North Kerry in a variety of multi million projects: the Aquadome leisure centre in Tralee; the development of the Lee Valley in the gateway to the Dingle peninsula; the town centre urban renewal scheme on a site which was formerly the cattle mart; the extension of the Regional Technical College; the restoration old the Jeannie Johnson Famine ship; the development of the airport; the Ballybunion sewage treatment project and the development of Listowel library are among a lengthy list that bear his mark.

Any criticism relates to the absence of sufficient industrial jobs to reduce unemployment. There are 4,379 people on the live register in Tralee and 1,741 in Listowel. "Tralee, for instance, has had no new industrial project since the last time he was in government," said Mr Andrew McCarthy, branch secretary of SIPTU, "but it is the State agencies that should be delivering on jobs. Mr Spring's work rate has been phenomenal. Where it has been within his power to deliver, he has delivered."

Mr Pat Leahy, a Labour county councillor from Moyvane, pointed to the loss of jobs at the Neodata plant in Listowel, but added: "Without Dick Spring, there would be very little in North Kerry. He has been behind all the big projects relating to housing, roads and sewerage.

It has been pointed out that he was involved in behind the scenes attempts to save existing industrial jobs, such as at the Klopman textile plant. An estimated 75 light engineering jobs are expected to come on stream shortly, some before the anticipated general election.

Mr Spring is likely to be a major election target for Fianna Fail, with the South Kerry TD and spokesman on justice, Mr John O'Donoghue, claiming that the Tanaiste and party have made Machiavelli look like a boy scout. The sitting North Kerry FF TD, Mr Denis Foley, however, has held his silence.

He knows there is little mileage in attacking Mr Spring, who enjoys a strong measure of cross party support for his constituency work, and he may well be looking for some of the Tanaiste's surplus, given that they share the same Tralee base.

Mr Spring is likely to head the poll, followed by the Fine Gael Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Jimmy Deenihan, with Mr Foley and Mr Tom McEllistrim Jnr battling for the one Fianna Fail seat.

Despite the poll topping predictions, nothing is being taken for granted by the Tanaiste and his local organisation. There will be two Labour directors of elections, one for Tralee and the other for the northern end of the constituency. Mr Spring, a cautious man by nature and inclination, will never forget his dark night of the soul a decade ago.