It is now 5O years since I started working for the Irish Sugar factory in Mallow. My first day working there was October 8, 1965. I was trained into the quality control section. Some of my colleagues were Tadgh Quill BSC who was chief chemist and John Buckley RIP was the quality supervisor and also the chairman of Mallow Urban District Council.

I SERVED for 12 years in a voluntary capacity as secretary of the Mallow Hospital Retention Committee under the chairmanship of the late Joe Sherlock TD who was at that time a socially committed member of Mallow Urban District Council.

Tributes are today being paid to former Labour TD Joe Sherlock, who died this morning after an illness.