ZERO tolerance for the Fianna Fail option. As delegates digested their pints on Saturday night many seemed not to have fully digested Mr Spring's words.
The problem was that they had given the longest, loudest standing ovation of the weekend when Mr Spring was halfway, through ruling out a coalition with Fianna Fail. The most unequivocal statement - that he would be urging the party after the election to go into opposition rather than into government with Fianna Fail or the PDs - was lost on those who got too caught up in cheering him on.
In the early hours, two North Kerry delegates in the nearby Castletroy Park Hotel were adamant that he had left open the door. Reciting the words back to them had little effect. "I didn't hear him say that," said one. The confusion wasn't confined to North Kerry. "It looks like he will go with Fianna Fail then," remarked one foreign diplomat.
Perhaps applause should be banned during important speeches. But self congratulation was the tone of the weekend. The Minister for Finance, Ruairi Quinn, praised the Minister for the Environment, Brendan Howlin, for providing the sunshine that brightened the broad lawns, trees and shrubs of the University of Limerick campus.
The motions, too, were littered with congratulations to Labour's Ministers for their vision, their triumphs and their all round value to the nation.
The first of four motions on arts, culture and the Gaeltacht, for example, said that conference "congratulates Michael D. Higgins"; the second "commends Michael D. Higgins"; the third refers approvingly to his work on behalf of the Irish language; and the last wanted to "comhghairdeachas a dheanamh le Micheal D. O hUiginn".
The Tanaiste was congratulated, his dedicated work recognised and his achievements "noted with satisfaction". The Minister for Education was congratulated in seven out of 13 education motions, her work supported in another and welcomed in yet another. The Minister for the Environment was congratulated and complimented, the Minister for Finance congratulated and applauded, the Minister for Equality and Law Reform plain old congratulated.
And that was only the motions. Many speakers professed themselves privileged, honoured, "proud to be associated with a party which ..." etc.
As they literally went through the motions, one Dublin councillor reclining in his chair through a particularly proud and honoured delegate's speech remarked: "The old days were more fun." Party delegates reminisced fondly about the dramatic left/right jousting that used to be a feature of Labour conferences not so long ago.
Reporters got better stories, delegates got to join a weekend long struggle for hearts and minds, ministers and even the leader got criticised and if the result was division and some collateral damage to the party's national standing, was that not a small price to pay for excitement? It seemed as if there wouldn't even be a picket until a group of health workers turned up on Saturday evening with placards about champagne socialists and tax amnesties for fat eats.
The champagne, however, is on ice, but should Mr Spring's gamble pay off the socialists may consume a good deal of it.