TRIBUTES FROM across the political spectrum have been paid to Maeve Spring, former councillor and constituency secretary to her brother, Dick Spring, during his time as TD and tánaiste.
Ms Spring (56), a mother-of-two, died on Monday following a long illness. She was predeceased by her husband James Sweeney.
She was part of a political dynasty which began in the 1940s when her father, the late Dan Spring, was elected to the Dáil.
He won a Labour Party seat against the odds and retained it at every election, until his retirement from politics in 1981 when he was replaced by Dick Spring.
Dick Spring was Labour leader and tánaiste, but he never took his eyes off matters in his Kerry North constituency. Ms Spring was his eyes and ears locally.
She regularly topped the poll in Tralee Urban Council and Kerry County Council where she was regarded as a tireless worker, particularly on behalf of the elderly and on health issues.
First elected in 1985, she stepped down in 2004 to battle her illness with breast cancer. She had become ill after her husband’s death following a short illness.
Leader of the Labour Party Eamon Gilmore said Ms Spring was a member of a remarkable family that had given more than seven decades of public service to the people of Kerry.
“But her contribution to public life and to the Labour Party extended far beyond her role as a councillor,” he added.
Mayor of Kerry Cllr Bobby O’Connell said that Ms Spring was an excellent councillor, representing not only the Tralee electoral area but all of Kerry.