Last orders for retiring Dáil bar manager
He joined the staff of Leinster House in 1968 and met every Irish politician of note in the intervening period.
But today the senior bar manager, who turns 65 in a fortnight, pulls his last pint, having decided to retire.
Politicians paid warm tribute to the Cavan-born Mr Sheils in the Dáil yesterday. Finance Minister Brian Cowen, representing the Government, thanked Mr Sheils for his friendship, discretion, courtesy and professionalism, saying he would be missed.
“I wish him well and thank him for the many times he poured a good pint,” Mr Cowen said to warm smiles from TDs on both sides of the floor.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said Mr Sheils, together with another senior member of the bar staff, Denis Reid, shared a unique political achievement.
“(They) formed the longest working coalition within the Houses of the Oireachtas for a great number of years,” he said.
Of the possibility of a memoir by Mr Sheils, Mr Kenny said: “He has assured me that he will not write the book for some time because therein lies not one story, but many.”
Labour deputy leader Liz McManus said it would be a shame if Mr Sheils did not write the book.
Mr Sheils said: “I don’t know if I will write a book. I definitely have a few very good stories in me from my time. I knew generations of the same families like the Ryans, the McEntees and the McEllistrims from Co Kerry.
“There were many political crises and dramas in all those years and many TDs confided in me.”
The tributes continued outside the Dáil. As Mr Sheils walked to the plinth outside Leinster House to pose for a photograph for this paper, ministers, TDs, advisers and Leinster House staff stopped him repeatedly to wish him well.
They included Justice Minister Michael McDowell, Labour Party stalwart Pat Magner, and Children’s Minister Brian Lenihan, who pointed out that Mr Sheils had known four generations of his family.
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