Lifesaver, traffic warden, caretaker, gentleman: John Walsh retires

A hugely popular figure within Tipperary County Council and beyond, John Walsh has retired from his role with the authority taking on retirement at the age of 73.

The former traffic warden and caretaker of civic offices, John Walsh said he loved the job and the people he worked with, but now was the right time to go.

“I have been working since I was 16 and was never afraid to turn my hand to anything. I was never afraid of change. I was in a lot of different jobs over the years and never minded change. Retirement is another change and now was a good time for me to go,” said John Walsh.

Well known in Clonmel and beyond from his time as a traffic warden, John Walsh spent ten years on the streets of Clonmel handing out parking tickets to motorists before taking on the job of caretaker in the massive civic offices in Clonmel.

The parting of ways from the Council was difficult for John and for the staff who held John in very high regard.

“I will miss the camaraderie, the friendship and the banter. It was a pleasure to work with every staff member. We had a great working relationship, plenty of laughs and great friendships,” said John, who is married to Sheila and they have two adult sons, Stephen and Gary.

John, a Clonmel man who lives in Ballingarrane North, began his working life with Hally Builders at the age of 16 on the building of the houses in Cherrymount in 1969 and has worked every day since at a variety of jobs.

In his spare time John devoted decades volunteering for the Red Cross. Two years ago, John was hailed as a hero when he saved the life of a local man who collapsed at the annual walk to the Holy Year Cross. John was the right man in the right place.

After Hally Builders John worked 20 years in Medite and worked with Grangemore Landscapes all over the country before the opportunity to work in the council came along.

“I had applied for a number of jobs with the council and the traffic warden one was the one I least expected to get because I had no experience in that type of work,” said John.

In 2008 he joined two other traffic wardens, Eamon O’Dwyer and Mary Meagher, on the streets of Clonmel at the time.

“There were three of us at the time. The town was very busy. I was writing 3,500 tickets a year. Early on, I decided to smile at all of the people and things worked out grand,” said John Walsh.

John said he always looked out for cars parked in disabled bays or in loading areas, which forced vans doing deliveries to double park.

“They started to paint the disabled bays blue shortly after I joined, and that improved things because people could clearly see that they were for disabled drivers. It made a huge difference and other motorists had no excuse for parking in them. To this day, able-bodied motorists still park in those bays but certainly not as many as before. I cannot understand why motorists would park in a disabled bay, it beggars belief that motorists still do it,” said John.

John said he enjoyed meeting people of the town on his daily rounds and always looked out for the elderly.

“I always looked out for the elderly and helped them across the street if they were on foot. When parking cars, they might park in areas they shouldn't have without realising that, and I would fully understand that,” said John.

“The vast majority of the public were very understanding of the job I had to do. I got very little aggro. I felt if you were fair to people and explained things to them, they would go along with you,” said John.

He does remember one incident of unwanted attention from a member of the public during his time as a traffic warden that caused him and his family considerable stress.

“There was one serious incident when a motorist I had given a ticket to waited for me to finish work every day for a period of two months. He would follow me, and on one occasion he followed me to my home. It was a very stressful time for me and my family,” said John.

The person harassing John received a custodial sentence, and John said he was very grateful to the officials and colleagues in work who supported him throughout the ordeal.

In 2015, an opportunity arose to take a change of direction within the council with the advertisement for the caretaker post, and John applied.

“I enjoyed being a traffic warden. I met people every day and the exercise from walking so many hours a day was very good for my health. You can’t do that type of job forever and there comes a time when a change is needed,” said John Walsh.

“I got the new job so they took me off the streets and now as caretaker I was meeting the public less and interacting every day with all of the staff. Health and Safety was a huge thing at the time, and I helped the staff, and they helped me, and that worked well for everybody,” said John.

He enjoyed his new role, which also involved organising the monthly meetings of the authority and the civic receptions held for dignitaries.

Covid was a particularly challenging time as new protocols were introduced, as well as Zoom technology to enable meetings to be held. The meetings at the time were moved to bigger venues such as Semple Stadium, and big community halls around the county so that people had the required amount of space that was necessary.

He was honoured to meet many people as a result of his duties organising civic receptions, with the last one being the Freedom of the Town ceremony for newly elected President Catherine Connolly in May. Others he enjoyed organising civic honours for were Rachel Blackmore, Liam Cahill, and Sam Bennett.

“I was honoured that the last civic function I worked on organising was for President Connolly.It was a nice way to go out,” said John.

John, as you would expect, will not be taking it easy in retirement, as he plans to be busy. He is an active member of the Clonmel First Responders Group, and he intends to resume his activities with the Irish Red Cross. He has given decades of service to the local Red Cross and has trained many people with his training courses over the years.

“It gives me great pleasure to see so many of the people that started out at beginner Red Cross courses to go on and become paramedics with the HSE,” said John who gave the best possible demonstration of how important it is to have first aid skills and to be able to use a defibrillator when he saved a life at the Holy Year Cross where over 300 people gathered for the annual walk in Clonmel two years ago.

John was on the walk, and he saw Clonmel man Fish Ahearne collapse on the mountain after a cardiac arrest.

“Fish collapsed and cut his head. I went to get the defibrillator and first aid kit. He was not breathing. It was all action from there using the defibrillator, putting on the pads and shocking him. He came back and went again; I shocked him again two more times, and that worked. I did not know the man from Adam,” said John.

He intends now to update his training and take time to follow Tipperary hurlers and all sports which he is a big fan of.

“I put off retiring for years because I enjoyed working so much. It is time to go now,” said John Walsh.

POEM TRIBUTE - So today we all have brave faces, but tomorrow we will all be in tears.

Work colleague Liam Ryan wrote the following poem as a tribute to John Walsh on his retirement from Tipperary County Council

Well John Walsh, what are we going to do

This building will surely fall down, now that it no longer contains you

You have graced us all for so long, with sincerity, warmth and style

What will we do in the morning, without that welcoming smile

How can you be replaced, there can be nobody quite like you

HR are in turmoil, they have been left with Cinderella’s shoe

Ger Walsh is in tears, and there is no pacifying Sinead Carr

Paul Morris says he needs a drink, if only he knew a good bar

If we had an annual award, for the staff person of the year

You would now have done the 18 in a row, nobody else comes near

Who will tell Annette Hickey, she has left her car lights on

And who will switch them off in the evening, after we have all gone

Who will fix the lift, or make sure there is oil in the burner

And they tell me that once, you dressed up like Tina Turner

Rachel Blackmore was honoured, the town hall put on a bit of a do

But the honour was hers she said, none of her winners compared to you

Liam Cahill also came, and brought Liam McCarthy to great cheer

I’ve trained the finest hurlers he said, but there is an even greater man here

Catherine Connolly was also impressed, you could see it in her face

There’s no way I would have got in. if he was in the race

The Chinese ambassador came this week, and was offered the height of lux-ury

There is no need he said, it’s John Walsh I have come to see

We would do anything to keep you, even loan you a new phone

But Sheila has put her foot down, there’s plenty of jobs for him at home

We thought about a penthouse, and then Sheila could move in here

Your own designated parking space, and the canteen could serve beer

Where will you go from here, we are all waiting to see

There is an opening in Downing Street, or hosting the Rose of Tralee

Your retirement is well deserved, you can now plan a trip to Rome

No more early mornings, or waiting for Eoin Powell to go home

You are leaving a wonderful legacy, you have earned your time to rest

Tipperary County Council knows, it is losing one of its best

It has been a pleasure to know you, and work with you over the years

So today we all have brave faces, but tomorrow we will all be in tears.