Four council staff retire with over 170 years service

FOUR men who worked in public service for 170 years combined, keeping the streets, roads, lanes, parks, open spaces, and anywhere else, clean and safe, celebrated a joint retirement party this week.

Thomas (Jocker) Burnett, was joined at his retirement party in Aherns Pub, Tallaght, by former colleagues Liam (The Duck) Perry, Brendan (Percy) Whelan, and James (Jimmy) Power.

All four men from Tallaght formerly worked in the public realm section for South Dublin County Council.

At Aherns Pub last Friday, December 16, they were joined by over 130 of their fellow council workers from many of the different council depots to wish them well and share stories from the battlefield.

Public realm workers play a vital role throughout the year in maintaining communities, with their massive work at Halloween a major success in recent years, not to mention keeping the roads safe and accessible during frost, snow and ice.

Gregory Whelan, brother of Brendan Whelan, said all four men retired in 2022.

“Because of Covid, they couldn’t meet up to properly celebrate, but they were able to do it last week,” said Gregory.

“Each of them has more than 40 years service in the public realm. Three of the four arrived into public realm from the bins, which used to be in public realm.

“A lot of the work they do is maybe not appreciated, but it would be nice to give a bit of recognition to the lads for the work they did.”