Fortune’s tide sees rich font of Limerick Council knowledge depart for adventures new

THE recent full meeting of Limerick City and County Council took a Shakespearean turn as talk turned to extending the retirement age...

THE recent full meeting of Limerick City and County Council took a Shakespearean turn as talk turned to extending the retirement age to 75 in the hope of hanging onto one of its best servants a little bit longer.

Director of Services Kieran Lehane, with 53 years of public service under his belt, is the longest-serving executive member in the history of the local authority.

Alas, at the full Council meeting, Mr Lehane took his seat at the top table in the Dooradoyle council chamber for the last time in what has been a long and impressive career.

A much-loved member of Council management, who walked the length and breadth of the city on a regular basis to ensure things were ticking over, is shortly departing Merchant’s Quay. Revered by councillors as the man that always took their calls, day and night, Kieran will be sorely missed in City Hall by all those glad of his guidance and expertise down the years.

Council Director General Dr Pat Daly said it had been a please to work with Lehane, both as a friend and professional colleague.

“The amount of knowledge you have and the way you share that knowledge has been a joy to watch and a joy to receive. I just want to wish you the very best. Have a happy and healthy retirement,” Dr Daly said.

Fine Gael councillor John Sheahan described the retiring Council director as a “font of knowledge”, something he suggested Lehane might be able to cash in on with much demand for his wisdom and good counsel.

Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Collins described Lehane as a man that was always proactive and helpful to councillors.

“That reflected on our work on the ground as well, which was of immense help to us. It was a two-way street, and it was a pleasure working with you,” Cllr Collins said.

Mayor John Moran joked that he had earlier been considering proposing a motion to the Minister to extend the retirement age to 75.

“We could do with keeping you around for a bit longer. I just want to offer my condolences to whoever takes over as in charge of the city centre because knowing how you pace the streets and walk around, they’ll probably be getting phone calls and texts on all the things that you are constantly reminding us to do.

“I got to see you in action, not just in the Council, but in the count centres and various other things. Your knowledge will be sorely missed, in terms of the understanding of how the legislation works and everything else. And as has been said already, I’m sure you can cash it in and monetise all that knowledge. There’s a review coming of the Mayor legislation soon, so we might be getting you in as a consultant,” Mayor Moran quipped.

Lehane, grateful for all the warm comments, said he had great memories going back to when he first started working with Limerick County Council in 1975.

“It was a very, very small place indeed back then, and there was a lot of things that we didn’t have. We didn’t have planners back then, we didn’t have computers, we didn’t even have dial-out phones. There was no AI and there was no social media,” Mr Lehane recalled.

“But what we did have, we had a great sense of identity, pride, a sense of belonging to a team of people who were very committed to Limerick. There was a great sense of happiness, unity, family. The Council walked on two legs – the elected members and the staff, and now, as Kieran O’Donnell said, here at the first meeting when the mayoral legislation passed, we now have to walk on three legs.”

Mr Lehane added: “We worked hard for people, and it was very strongly inculcated in me to respect and work with the elected members, because you have the courage to go before the people. I always remind my colleagues that the word democracy comes from ‘deimos’, which is the Greek for people. We are only loaned our functions, our power, our authority, our budgets from the people, and everything we do must be on behalf of the people, and that’s a great filter that only the elected members have, and it’s a great strength in the system.

“I’m delighted to have worked in the Council. As a quotation from my Inter Cert, as it used to be in 1972, by Julius Caesar: ‘There’s a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.’ So I was lucky in 1975 that I got on board a particular tide,” he concluded.