Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome to the Visitors Gallery a group from the ESB in Tralee who I understand are here to mark the forthcoming retirement of their colleague Hilda Doody. They are most welcome to Seanad Éireann. Not only is Hilda retiring after nearly four decades of service, she is doing so on the June Bank Holiday weekend, the weekend of a wedding in the family. Congratulations. It is going to be a big weekend in Kilflynn. I also welcome Donal O’Connor, Margaret O’Connor, Catherine Walsh, Bernie Keane and Jackie Scanlon. Thank you all for being here. When we have people visiting, we can normally give them something. Mostly, we let school groups off homework, but since Hilda is retiring, the only thing I can give is advice. The only advice I have been given on retirement was from three Moriarty brothers who had a bakery in Kenmare for more than 49 years. When they finished up, they put a lovely handwritten note in the window thanking all their customers, friends and everybody else for their support and they finished with the line, "And now we must learn the art of how to spend time without spending money". When Hilda learns that art, she might inform us all. I thank her for being here today and congratulate her on her retirement. May she have many happy years of it.