A FUTURE government involving the Labour Party and the Progressive Democrats has been ruled out by the Tanaiste and Labour leader, Mr Spring.
"For a short and damaging period we saw PD Thatcherism in action in Ireland - and it must never be allowed to happen again," Mr Spring told delegates to the party's Dublin regional conference last night.
"There can never again be any room for the kind of politics that is prepared to make sick and elderly people pay for tax cuts for high earners."
The PD leader, Ms Mary Harney, was "about four years late" when she announced recently that she would not enter government with Labour after the next election.
"We decided in 1992 that we did not want to have anything to do with the people who had done their level best to introduce the failed politics of Thatcherism into Ireland."
He trenchantly criticised PD deputies who were "given free rein in certain newspapers to shed bogus tears about the plight of people out of work".
Anyone who argued that it was essential to cut essential services and sell off strategic and socially valuable public enterprises really did not care about people out of work.
"These are comfortable policies for comfortable people," said Mr Spring.
There had been no discussion between the parties in Government of the date of the next election or of how it would be fought. "It is far too early for that," he replied in response to a delegate, who said the party would suffer electorally if it did not work to establish a separate identity despite the good performance of its Ministers.
Mr Spring said the regional conferences now being held were part of a strategy to demonstrate that the party had a vision of what they wanted for the future.
He proposed, if the political will is there, that the Government set aside £200 million between now and the end of the decade to tackle community development in Dublin.
The city also needed a non-partisan forum where people could have a real input into how those resources should be spent.
The holding of a convention on the future of the city, along the lines of the highly successful education convention, should be considered to allow elected representatives, community interests and others to address the issues against the background of a concrete funding proposal from the Government.
Even more than resources, Mr Spring said, structures were needed to empower people. Otherwise, the future of the capital could be shaped by speculators, property developers and rezoners.
It was not possible to curb public spending further without cutting the essential services, he continued. "Political sloganising might be exciting on the surface. But it is no substitute for careful management and fair distribution."
In the formation of the present Government people who had been marginalised in the past, such as those with disabilities or in the arts, were given a voice at the Cabinet table.
Mr Spring said the next election would be fought on ideas and values. "It will be a battle for Ireland's future - between those who believe this community has a vibrant and exciting future and those who only want to knock."