Pádraig has ‘no regrets whatsoever’ as retirement kicks off after 44 years

Pádraig Ó Conaill will have a lunchtime kick-around with the pupils at Cloghroe National School for the last time today as he brings a close to his 44-year teaching career.

The 64-year-old has spent his entire professional life working at the school six miles from Cork city, which had fewer than 200 pupils when he joined in 1967. He has driven every day from home west of Macroom to the school, but this evening will be his last journey home from the school, where he has been principal since 1980.

“There was a surge in our numbers in the late 1990s and again in more recent years, and we have 567 pupils and a staff of almost 50 today,” he said.