‘Voice of City Hall’ hangs up phones after 42 years

The man known as “the voice of City Hall” is putting the phone down after four decades’ of service.

Sean Walsh, who has manned the switch-board in Cork’s civic headquarters for 42 years, is among the thousands of public servants due to retire before changes to pension and retirement arrangements come into effect tomorrow.

Sean, 62, from High Street in Cork City, is one of 29 Cork City Council staff leaving before the deadline.

Frank Donovan, who has worked the phones with Sean for the last 36 years, described him as a “thorough gent”.

“I’ll miss him as a work mate but also as a companion here. He is a thorough gent. You’d never hear him saying a bad word about anyone.”

City Hall’s head porter, John Kenneally, said: “Sean was always very courteous and pleasant, and defused many a situation before the calls got into the office. He had that way about him.

“But he was always reliable and highly professional in his dealings with the public.”

Cllr Patricia Gosch also paid tribute to him. “There were times when you couldn’t get an answer from somebody in City Hall and Sean always found a back door. He’ll be missed.”

The City Hall switchboard is one of the busiest in the city, alongside University College Cork and Cork University Hospital.

Sean began working on the phones when City Hall had the old-style plug-in switchboard system. He was often the first point of contact for members of the public contacting the council and has answered millions of calls.

The November 2009 flooding disaster and the cold weather crises which affected the city’s public water network over the subsequent two winters were among his busiest periods at work.

Meanwhile, Lord Mayor Terry Shannon has led tributes to all council staff leaving tomorrow. “They have all given sterling service, many of them for up to 40 years, to the council and to the city.”

He singled out two directors of service — city engineer Kevin Terry and director of personnel, Ger O’Halloran — for special mention.

City manager Tim Lucey also thanked the retiring staff for their contributions.

By tomorrow, retirements will have brought the council’s staff numbers down to just over 1,300 — a reduction of 219 or 14% since early 2009.